Schweet Deal
by Alisi Thorndyke
Summary: A compilation of one-shots surrounding the Sugar Rush racers, their relationships/complications, and confidants within Game Central Station! Chapter 12: Upgrade Mix-Up III: Litwak's technician discovers a shocking secret regarding Sugar Rush's upgrade while things in the game take an interesting turn for Vanellope and Jubileena!
1. Pumpkin Hearts

Schweet Deal!

A/N: Hello everyone! Alisi Thorndyke here with another WIR fanfic for you guys, but it's more of a collection of one-shots than it is an entire story. Within this one-shot collection, a variety of pairings will be displayed from Jawbreaker, VanillaButter, PeanutbutterTaffy, VanillaPumpkin to even TwistedMint (SwizzlexMinty Zaki). Viewers/reviewers can request one-shots for the collection as well as I will update with an idea that comes to mind. If M rated material is requested, you can be sure it will be tasteful in my care and just a warning, one-shots will jump from angst to heartwarming to humorous when you least suspect so keep your peeled! If nothing else, on with the first story! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own WIR because if I did, I'd be set for life! Nuff said lol!

Summary: A compilation of one-shots surrounding the racers of Sugar Rush, their enemies, and confidants within the Arcade! Requests welcome! Story one: After Candlehead is injured in an accident during a roster race, Gloyd vows to avenge the racer that injured her, but most of all, vows to never leave her side! Jack-O-Lantern!

Chapter One: Pumpkin Hearts

The Game Central medical center, the busiest place in the entire arcade that tends to self made as well as user made programs from games of all origins. Numerous gamers are taken to the medical center daily after having suffered an injury of some kind from their game during arcade hours. A player from the Street Fighter game was rushed into the medical center not too long ago and placed in a room for a ribcage fracturing injury, that room being right next door to the famous cupcake themed racer from Sugar Rush who was checked into her room an hour before for the numerous injuries she incurred during the roster race. The injuries that she was being treated for weren't as extensive as some of the patients that were checked into the hospital that night, but none the less, were extensive enough. A deep gash on her forehead, a sprained right wrist, and a hairline fracture in her right arm, injuries any racer risks gaining during such a high stakes race and unfortunately, the light hearted racer incurred them.

An accident involving the newly added _Versus Avatars_ that were added to the game during another upgrade due to the immense popularity the racing game came into. Litwak felt the need to expand on the game so to give the racers more edge and competition after years of the normal racers racing against each other, something the Sugar Rush racers certainly got!

During the roster race, one of the new and most aggressive avatars knocked off several racers from the Cake Way race track and injured the owner of the Ice Screamer. The new avatar that Candlehead was to race against became too aggressive when using the good cheating rule and knocked her from the track entirely. While the cupcakes that normally surround the cake themed racetrack would have been the perfect cushion for the racer, sadly those were less than a cushion and her along with her kart, took a hit which landed her room 2B and her kart in restoration. As the racer laid unconscious in her bed with an IV in her left arm and oxygen attached, she wasn't aware that her fellow teammates were sitting along her right bedside, their concerned eyes locked on her, Vanellope's showing the most concerned as one of her own was hurt within her game. It wasn't enough that they had to share their game with new avatars and yet one of those new avatars attacks one of her gamers!

"I knew that Versus Avatar mode was nothing but trouble!" Taffyta being the first to speak up, her voice dripped with venom. "Why did Litwak _have _to add that feature onto our game?! We were perfectly happy with the game being just us, but now we have to share our game with those _talentless _avatars!"

"I don't understand it either." Vanellope calmly replied as she got to her feet and walked over to Candlehead, the core of Sugar Rush looming over her fellow confidant with sad eyes. "Because our game has the most popularity in the arcade, he felt adding that feature would do wonders for our game. I just don't see it."

"Well it certainly worked!" Swizzle barked as he heaved a heavy sigh. "After today, every kid in the arcade will _wonder_ which one of us they can knock off next with that feature!"

"Please don't say that." Vanellope requested as she shut her eyes briefly, but just as quickly opened them, her vision still fixed on an unconscious Candlehead. "But my question is, how did any of this happen? I heard screaming and before I knew it, the race was brought to a sudden halt!"

"You want to know what happened?!" Taffyta voiced, her voice rising as she jumped to her feet. "I'll tell you what happened! One of those _newbies_ felt he had something to prove and started knocking all of the racers off of the track one by one! The only reason why you, Rancis, Swizzle, and Jubileena didn't get attacked was because all of you were ahead of us. I, along with everyone else, got knocked off just so that _jerk_ could go after Candlehead! That's what happened!"

Sighs could be heard from the racers as Vanellope took a minute to let what Taffyta told her sink in. While Vanellope was in the number one spot, she only caught bits of the race behind her from the jumbotron while keeping her focus on the race. One of the new avatars tried to pass her, but being a skilled racer, she was able to block him every time he tried to get ahead of her. She refused to give her number one spot to anyone!

"Since one of them attacked her, there's no telling what they are planning for the next race!" Taffyta continued.

"Taffyta might be on to something." Rancis added. "Since we have to now share our game with new avatars, there is nothing we can do except do our best to avoid them on the track. What else can we do?"

"We can't stop racing that's for sure." Snowanna voiced in disagreement. "We just have to show those new avatars who the _real_ winners are! They are in our game so we show them who's boss in the next race!"

"We just have to make a fail-safe strategy for the next race." Jubileena suggested. "We were just caught off guard considering we didn't get a chance to know the new avatars before the roster race since we are on a separate side of the game from them."

"Is there such a thing as fail-safe?" Minty Zaki questioned to herself.

"Speaking of caught off guard, where is Gloyd?" Vanellope questioned as she turned to the other racers, remembering that the pumpkin themed racer didn't arrive at the medical center when they did behind CH.

"I've been wondering that myself." Rancis replied as he fixed his hair in his compact mirror. Seeing that it was fixed to perfection at that point, he put the mini reflector back into his jacket. "Hopefully he didn't try to get back at that avatar by pulling one of his silly pranks on them. While it only annoys us when he does it, it's a different story with someone else."

"I wouldn't think he'd do something that like in a situation like this." Vanellope calmly defended. "Hopefully he gets here soon."

"So what is the plan for our next race?" Crumbelina questioned, her billowy eyes also fixed to the still unconscious Candlehead. "We can't let this happen to another one of us."

Before anyone could speak up to answer Crumbelina, the door to the hospital room opened with Gloyd, panting heavily, walking through. All eyed turned to him, everyone noticing how out of breath and somewhat scuffed up the racer looked to be.

"Gloyd, you finally made it." Vanellope cheered quietly. "But what happened to you?"

"I caught up with the avatar that attacked Candlehead on the track, but before I could use any of my sweet seekers to take him down, he crossed the data wall that keeps the both sides of the game separated." Gloyd explained as he continued catching his breath while making his way over Candlehead. "I was so close!"

"Did you get the name of the guy who did this to Candlehead?" Rancis questioned.

"His name is Axel." Gloyd reluctantly answered. "He was behind Candlehead in seventh place."

Reaching the unconscious racer, a wave of sadness washed over him at seeing how helpless she looked as she lied in the bed with machines that kept her stable from her accident. Despite being unresponsive, Gloyd could tell how sad she was, but most of all, scared. Gloyd always knew the risk he and his friends took every day when racing, but never in his wildest imagination has he ever thought about any of them ending up how Candlehead was at that point, especially Vanellope. If something, anything happens to her, their entire game would be down the data drain! The very thought scared him, despite him not ever admitting it outwardly.

The entire room fell silent as all eyes remained trained to Gloyd as his once anger, now billowy sadness, filled eyes remained trained to Candlehead. Just from his expression, Vanellope knew what to do next. After months of watching the two moderately flirt back and forth, the leader knew that leaving the two alone would be best at that point.

"Come on guys, let's leave these two alone." Vanellope voiced as she turned to the other racers. She then turned back to Gloyd. "Gloyd, We'll be outside if you need us."

Gloyd didn't respond, but his ears pricked at hearing the others getting to their feet and exiting the room behind Vanellope. In passing, Swizzle laid a hand on Gloyd's shoulder in support. With no words spoken, Swizzle removed it and made his way out of the room behind the others.

The only sounds that filled the room were the sounds of the IV machine that injected saline solution and pain medicine into the resting racer and her heart monitor. The sound of a chair being moved added in with the previous noises that already occupied the room, Gloyd pulled a chair up to Candlehead's left bedside and took a seat while gently taking her left hand. He lowered his head temporarily, but then raised it back to Candlehead with a heavy sigh. Just seeing her injuries was enough to get his temper flared in under sixty seconds, but he knew that that was not the time or place to think or behave in such a manner, no matter how much he wanted to release it.

"Candlehead, I know you can't hear me right now, but I want to say I'm sorry, I should have covered you on the track." Gloyd began while doing the best he could to keep the forceful tears that were threatening to spill over back. "If I had of, you wouldn't be here right now. Axel used a good cheating rule to attack you and I did the best I could pay him back for hurting you before I came here, but the data wall surfaced and I couldn't reach him. This is all of my fault, but I will make amends for this, I promise. I will pay Axel back for this."

Before that day, Gloyd literally never knew that he could muster the feelings of vengeance, but seeing that one of his closest confidants was laying in the position she's in now, at that moment, he felt every phase there was to know about that feeling from start to finish! His code seethed with rage, but that wasn't the time to let it get the best of him.

"Candlehead, I promise you from this point on I will be by your side and never leave you alone again." Gloyd promised as he heaved another heavy sigh. "And I promise to get Axel back for attacking you the way he did. The good cheating rule is never meant to be used that way!"

Feeling the rage continuing to build within his code, it took everything within the pumpkin themed racer to keep the feeling from surfacing, but just seeing the one close to his heart in the condition she's in made his code boil! Once he catches up to Axel, he plans to scatter his code all over the race track if that's the last thing he did!

"I will be here with you day and night until you are feeling well enough to leave." Gloyd continued. "I will do whatever it takes to nurse you back to health. I just want to see you race, but most of all, see you smile again. This game wouldn't be the same without you, especially on the track."

Lowering his head once more, Gloyd sighed, but with his vision turned to the ground, he missed one thing and that one thing was, the smile that made its way across Candlehead's face.

Despite the pain medicine that kept the anger of her injuries to a minimum, no amount of medicine could ever heal her heart the way that Gloyd ever could and at the moment, did.

* * *

_**Ok, my first time writing this couple. Was it good? Bad? Meh? Could do better? Drop me a review and let me know, but most of all, requests are welcome! Chapter 7 to Fight For The Code will be updated next week so be on the look out! If nothing, **_

_**Please Review!**_


	2. Her Wish Fulfilled!

Chapter 2: Her Wish Fulfilled!

'_Have you ever wanted something badly enough that you'd do anything to get it? Even going through great dangers to obtain it to the point of risking your life? Will it really be worth it in the end once you've obtained your one true desire? Vanellope asked herself those very same questions as her quest to find her father and save her game ends, but what happens next is something that not even she anticipated! _ (Look into Fight For The Code's Sequel Secrets of The Code!)

* * *

~(Vanellope's P.O.V.)~

It was over, it was truly over. I did all I could to piece together his code and bring him back, but I failed miserably. I traveled everywhere within the reaches of my game, but yet I was way out of my element to do this alone. I didn't want to admit that to myself, but yet, I couldn't deny it anymore. What was I thinking when I chose to do this? As desperately as I wanted my father back and save my game, that nagging feeling to turn back whenever I stepped foot into uncharted territory was always there telling me that I couldn't go through with it, I couldn't do it, but being the future queen of Sugar Rush, I couldn't listen to that voice, I couldn't let anything defeat me from my purpose, but regardless of what voice I didn't listen to I didn't succeed and it was too late. My game had another month to be functional before it was unplugged to be sent to the game graveyard like Turbo Time, Road Blasters and the other games that got unplugged prior. I could already see the red tag of death being placed over the cabinet window the moment the tremors became bad enough and the game glitched out of control. The memory of Sugar Rush was crashing and without my father's code to stabilize it, everyone in my game was due to be homeless. While I did everything I could to prevent it, I failed in the end and it was over.

I finally made it back to the castle, having traveled outside of my game to see what Game Central Station would truly be like and what went on there during and after arcade hours. I never traveled outside of my game before so I thought I would do so just to know what being there would be like. Not bad at all. A little cold, but not too bad if I had to be there all the time. Everyone is so friendly with a sprinkle of a few sour faces here and there, but not too many of them. I thought about going to Ralph's game, but there wouldn't be enough room for me and the rest of the Sugar Rush to live there and I couldn't abandon my subjects as well as my friends so if we go down, we're doing it together. A captain never abandons their ship, even in the worst of times.

Walking through the front doors of my home, I once again felt the ache on my lower leg that got badly injured in Toffee Mountain when a clue to a missing puzzle piece of my father's code led me to that location. I barely escaped with my life, but thank user just my code on my lower right leg was damaged and that I didn't suffer a possible deletion. I was close, but I escaped before that could happen. Lucky me, but yet, I was able to get part of his code that I needed to stabilize the game, but still, it wasn't enough. Much bigger pieces were missing and I didn't even have enough time or of those to make a difference.

My eyes were tired, my entire body ached, and in some parts of my code I were in desperate need of a reset and being on the path to the throne room, I was on the right track to reset the entire game, but most importantly, myself. However, I didn't know what good it would do knowing it was only a matter of time before everything was set to be unplugged, but yet, it was best to enjoy it while it lasted. Nothing wrong with living it up in the moment I always said.

As I continued my trudge to the code room, I saw Sour Bill approaching me with an expression that was pure fear and horror. He has every right to be afraid, after all I was, but was too tired to show it.

"Your majesty where have you been?!" Bill panics. "The tremors have gotten worse and everyone is in a huge uproar over our game possibly becoming unplugged! You must calm them down as I have tried everything in the book!"

_What could I do that he has possibly already tried? _

"I will do what I can after I get some rest." I voiced to Bill, feeling that ache in my leg attack me once more as I flinched at the relentless sharp ache. "I found another part of my father's code in Toffee Mountain, but it's not enough to save the game in time. I did everything I could."

"Toffee Mountain?!" Sour Bill gasped. "No gamer from Sugar Rush has gone to Toffee Mountain and lived! You are extremely lucky to have made it out alive Vanellope!"

_Boy don't I feel so lucky…._

"Lucky me." I voiced as I walked by Bill, hearing him gasp once more.

"Your highness, what happened to your leg?" Bill inquired as I stopped and turned to him.

"It's no big deal, it's just a slight injury." I barked to Bill as I continued on to the code room to give myself a hard reset. I needed it more than the game did and resetting the game would do it no good as the only thing to stabilize the memory was out of my reach. "Just try to keep everyone calm so that I can think of a way to break the bad news to them."

"But what about your coronation ceremony and not to mention your birthday tomorrow?" Bill continued questioning me. "What are you going to do about either event?"

"Enjoy them while I can, I mean why not?" I replied to him, feeling every ounce of energy in my body drain out. I was defeated in more ways than one. "Just do the best you can to keep everyone calm."

As much as I didn't want to, what other choice did I have or better yet, didn't have? I hated to admit to defeat as I was never one to give in to such a void, but at that point, not even a silver lining would do anyone, not even me, any good.

"Yes your highness, right away." Sour Bill replied as he hurriedly scuttled off.

My mind began to wander at how I was going to break the bad news to everyone. Sugar Rush has been a home to everyone for as long as I could remember and in the blink of an eye, it was going to be ripped away from us due to the memory crashing and, with each tremor that took place, on the brink of shutting the entire game down. What was left other than to face the inevitable?

I made it to the code room and input the Konami code as the game pad unlocked the vault doors. Just hearing the doors whiz open hurt my ears a bit and wished it would open quieter. As I stepped into the small walk way leading to the massive zero gravity space, I mustered up what strength I could, reached for a licorice rope and pulled it down, tying it around myself as fast as I could. With a hard sigh, I turned to the opening of the massive vault and stared into the massive dark abyss as a strange yet comforting feeling washed over me. I couldn't figure out why, but yet, that feeling just comforted me in ways I haven't been comforted since the news of saving my dad so to save my game was foretold. I wanted him back for much more than that, but yet, just knowing that I could revive him was what I truly needed to hear. However the downside to it all was, it was too late to do anything. I was out of time.

Stepping towards the opening of the vault, I took a deep breath and leapt in as if taking a leap of faith. I free floated as several code boxes passed me. I took in every little detail so to have something to remember my game by knowing that prior, I took all of this for granted. The code vault was always a glorious sight to behold with the many effervescent streams of data and how the code boxes shined with an unmistakable glow that just drew one to their presence. While only the ruler, or in this case, rulers were allowed in here, anyone who ever saw this couldn't disagree with that statement.

Continuing to free float, I noticed my code box up ahead, it being the largest in here considering my status as the ruler. I didn't hesitate to make my way toward it and upon reaching it, I eyed it as if I were looking for it to give me answers to all of my questions, but even I knew, I were grasping at straws.

I tapped the box twice and it opened, all of the information concerning my status coming into view. What I was looking for wasn't anything that was already obvious, but yet, something that would reset me so not to give everyone something else to worry about considering what was going on already. That was the last thing I needed to deal with.

And there it was next to my health meter, my personal reset button, the one thing I needed in order to get myself back up to full health again. It sure will feel good to relieve myself of the pain I was feeling both inside and out. Even if temporary, it would still feel good to get back to myself again. Floating into the interior of my code box, I reached my hand out to the button, it being just mere centimeters away and without hesitation, pressed it. Within seconds, I felt my entire body go limp as my eyes slowly shut closed. I heard nothing around me, but felt my body float in the empty vast space of the vault. From what I could feel, the pain I was feeling was disappearing, quickly sending that relaxing sensation from my legs, to my arms, and finally, my brain. Hitting that button did the trick and I was finally free of any pain I was feeling. I was finally at rest.

* * *

"_Vanellope!"_

"_Vanellope, wake up!" _

"_Vanellope, we were so worried about you!"_

Those voices, they were so familiar, yet seemed so distant. I recognized the tone of the voices, but how could I hear them when the last thing I remember was resetting myself in the code vault? They couldn't have found me in there couldn't they? The only one who had access to the code vault other than myself was Sour Bill.

The voices continued calling me as my eyes slowly cracked open to see the strawberry mint swirl ceiling tiles in my view, those only being found in my bedroom. My eyes opened all the way as the faces of four of my friends came into view, Taffyta, Jubileena, Gloyd, and Candlehead. They looked happy with a hint of worry in their eyes. Sour Bill must have given them a hint as to what was to come next after my coronation ceremony, hence the worry.

"Vanellope, what were you doing in the code vault alone?!" Candlehead panicked. "When we saw you were floating lifelessly in there, we all became worried sick!"

"Once we pulled you out and saw that you were perfectly fine, it took forever to calm these three down." Gloyd voiced with a laugh as he referred to Taffyta, Jubileena, and Candlehead. "But it was a good thing we came to check on you when we did or there's no telling how long you would have been down there without anyone knowing."

"I just needed to be alone and think." I fibbed. "I must have fallen asleep."

"Do you know how dangerous that was?!" Taffyta barked, though I knew she was worried just the other three before me. "Your line could have snapped or worse!"

"I'm fine." I tiredly expressed as I sat up and faced everyone fully while throwing the covers back. "How did I end up here?"

"We carried you in here after fishing you out of the vault and you looked exhausted." Gloyd replied. "You know, you're surprisingly light."

_After what I went through, trust me, I was far beyond exhausted!_

"Well enough about that, we have to get you ready for your coronation ceremony!" Jubileena beamed with excitement. "Which also doubles as your sixteenth birthday!"

"Happy Birthday your highness!" Gloyd expressed as he and the others gave a slight bow. I couldn't help but giggle a bit at their display of loyalty. I truly did have some amazing friends which made telling them what I had to that much harder. "Right after your ceremony, be prepared for one sweet birthday surprise!"

"But what about the tremors that have been going on?" I question, curious as to how they were going to pull this off considering the condition the game was in.

"There hasn't been anymore since last night." Taffyta replied. "We were all expecting one to hit this morning considering the frequency in which they took place, but surprisingly nothing happened."

"Yea, it was like something suddenly stopped them." Gloyd chimed in.

The only thing that could have stopped them were having my father revived, but since I couldn't piece together his code in time to prevent the game's memory from crashing, then I couldn't possibly fathom what stopped them.

"What happened? How did they stop?" I prodded deeply as I was helped out of bed by Taffyta and Candlehead.

"We don't know and we tried to find out, but no one had any answers, not even Sour Bill." Jubileena answered as I was helped over to my vanity's seat and turned to face the mirror. "So we took that as a good sign to continue with the plans for your coronation and birthday parties!"

"And you have to leave." Taffyta playfully barked to Gloyd as she shoved him toward my bedroom doors. "Vanellope is going to need her privacy to get ready. Go make sure everything is in order."

"Alright, Alright I'm leaving." Gloyd voiced as he left the room, just leaving me and my three friends in my room.

"Did you ask maybe Rancis or any of the other racers what happened?" I continued questioning. I had to find out what was happening!

"No one knew, but right now isn't the time to worry about that." Candlehead expressed as she grabbed my brush and began brushing my hair. "You need to relax as today is all about you! A birthday and a coronation to Queen of our game? You shouldn't be tense for such exciting events!"

_I might as well enjoy it while it lasts!_

I shut my eyes to rest them for a bit while my three friends worked their magic on my hair and eventually the rest of me. Within a moment's time, I were dressed and ready to receive the honor that would be bestowed upon me at my coronation ceremony. Normally when a princess is promoted to Queen, she must marry a suitable match first, but since my father and mother were both deceased, I didn't see the point of delaying the evitable, even if it were just me that were going to be on the throne. Plus I was sixteen, not even age close for such a commitment!

With my eyes open wide, I gave myself the once over in my vanity, taking in the job my friends did on helping me get ready and they did one heck of a bang up job! I was dressed to the nines and had no reason to bark a complaint! Getting to my feet, I took a deep breath to ready myself for the day ahead, including breaking the bad news to everyone about the future of our game. That was not going to be easy, but yet, I knew I had to do what was best for everyone.

As I made my way towards the bedroom doors, it felt that with each step I took, the feeling of dread came back to me, the dread of knowing everyone in my game would have to find a new place to live in a month. The hiccups in the system were already discovered and were warned that if they got worse, we would be unplugged. As I said, we had about a month to stay afloat.

As I reached my bedroom doors, my friends and I exited my room with our next destination being the outer balcony of the castle that overlooked the surrounding villages, pointing in the direction of Oreo Overpass. I took another deep breath as I prepared myself mentally for what was to come next.

"Are you prepared for the next chapter to begin?" Taffyta questioned to me.

"As ready as I'll ever be." I replied in a low mumble, not really wanting to give a full answer. Not that I had one to begin with. "At least I'll have you guys by me through all of this. That's the best I could ask for."

"Well I'd like to think I'd be a part of your big day as well. Can't have your friends stealing all of the glory."

Suddenly, my feet stopped moving all by themselves at hearing that voice as well as my friends. It couldn't be! It just couldn't be who my mind was registering! After everything I've been through, I had to remind myself that it was all in my head! All of it, but I had to be sure just to make sure that what I heard was true to form.

Turning my right heeled foot out, I whirled myself around and what I saw nearly brought tears to my eyes with a threat to my newly done make up! I was in utter disbelief at the vision before me and was convinced it was only a dream. It was wasn't it?

"You look as if as if you've seen a ghost."

"Dad?!" Were the only words I could muster to voice.

* * *

_**And this is just a preview to the sequel, Secrets of The Code as the first story will be updated hopefully next weekend! The requests made prior to this chapter will be written soon as I have an idea of how I want them to go! But if nothing else,**_

_**Review Please!**_


	3. Cheer Up Candles

Chapter 3: Cheer Up Candles

'_What does it mean to be a friend to someone? Is it about being there for them when they need you? What about when they don't? What would one define as a friend as the word has many varying definitions? While Candlehead only considers some of her race team members her friends on the tracks, she is going to find out that she has more great friends both on and off the track!'_

* * *

The last roster race of the day was in progress and as usual, Vanellope was in first place, Taffyta was in second place, having been trying to get ahead of Vanellope for the past three laps, Rancis was in third, Gloyd was in fourth, and so on until the last kart crossed the finish line. At that very last moment, the speaker overhead announced that the arcade was closing and that the game day was officially over.

Candlehead was in sixth place when she crossed the finish line and having dodged every attack that was thrown at her on the track, she has managed to keep up her speed while also sending a few attacks of her own to her competitors. She struggled to make it into the spot she was currently in and for some reason, felt as if her mojo for the tracks weren't what it used to be. The fire she once held for racing was quickly diminishing and the flame of passion for the sport was reaching its end of the candle (no pun intended). Quite frankly to the racer, her fire was diminished entirely.

With her kart having crossed the finish line, the cake themed racer simmered her kart down to silence and removed her helmet as she shook her head to straighten out her hair. Looking ahead of her, she noticed that Vanellope was once again being handed a first place trophy and was being congratulated by everyone, including Sour Bill, who surprisingly doesn't congratulate anyone for any reason, not even Turbo when he was mocking being King Candy. A small smile graced her face as she looked on, always being happy when a fellow racer wins a roster race, even if it wasn't her who won.

Rancis, who was congratulating Vanellope as well, looked back and noticed that Candlehead hasn't moved from her kart since the race ended. She noticed him staring back at her and turned away slightly as light red blushed her cheeks. Looking back slightly, she noticed that he was approaching her kart so she proceeded to open her glove compartment and search through it as if she were looking for something important so to keep herself distracted. His shadow was then hovering over her, but she was too distracted to notice.

"Hey Candlehead." Rancis politely greeted to the green haired racer who jumped at the sound of his voice. She then turned to him with the shade of red on her cheeks deepening.

"Hi Rancis." Candlehead stammered as she quickly turned back to her glove compartment. "What's up?"

"Nothing, just wanted to say good job on the tracks today, but I noticed that you seemed distracted." Rancis pointed out as concern etched onto his features.

That stopped the cake themed racer from rummaging through her glove compartment cold. While she thought she gave it her all on the tracks during the race, just hearing that Rancis also noticing her fire for racing was diminishing was not something she could ignore. Is her dying passion for racing that obvious?

"Is everything ok?" Rancis inquired as he leaned down and over into her kart.

Turning back to him, Candlehead noticed just how close the peanut butter themed racer was to her and that only made her already nervousness around the racer kick up that much more. Her mind quickly began searching for an answer to the racer's simple question, but it came up short of a simple answer.

"Yea, I think I was just tired." Candlehead fibbed. "It's nothing really."

"Well since the arcade will be closed for the weekend, why don't you come over to the castle tonight." Rancis invited with a smile. "Vanellope is throwing a party tonight so this will all give us a chance to relax and hang out. What do you say? Plus we haven't really spoken to each other outside of racing so that will give us some time to catch up."

Candlehead whipped her attention back to her glove compartment and shut it while feeling her arm go weak in the process. She could never identify it, but being around Rancis made the racer a bit weak in the knees, though she would never let him know that.

"Um, let me think about it ok?" Candlehead replied as her kart came to life with the turn of the ignition key. "I'm not really a party person, but I'll let you know."

"Alright, looking forward to hearing from you." Rancis voiced as he leaned off of the kart and took a few steps back so to give her room to maneuver her kart.

With a gentle wave from the green haired racer, Candlehead reversed her kart and turned it in the opposite direction so to head for her home in the village. Her kart then rode off as Rancis's eyes followed the kart as it went further and further off in the distance, a ping of sadness squeezing his heart. While Candlehead didn't reject nor accept his invitation to the kingdom's party, not having a clear answer from her was enough for sadness to wash over him.

With his attention focus on the Ice Screamer, he didn't hear Gloyd calling out to him from a distance. The pumpkin themed racer approached him and his right hand landing on Rancis's left shoulder was enough to knock the boy out of his thought.

"Hey Ranc, I was calling you." Gloyd voiced as Rancis turned to him. "There is a party at the castle tonight and-"

"And the entire race team is invited." Rancis finished Gloyd's thought as he looked back out into the distance where the Ice Screamer disappeared. "I know, but it looks as if I'll be going alone tonight."

"What do you mean you'll be going alone?" Gloyd asked in confusion. "Jubileena, Crumbelina, Taffyta, and the others will be going. You'll even have your best buds, me and Swizzle, tagging right along with you."

"I know, but it won't be the same." Rancis sighed as he turned his vision to the ground.

Paying close attention to Rancis's body language and taking a look around at who was still present, Gloyd then noticed that everyone, but one, were present which also tipped him off as to what was troubling his friend.

"I'll just see you later ok?" Rancis replied. "I'm going to head home and get some rest before the party tonight."

"Alright buddy." Gloyd greeted as Rancis headed for his kart. "See ya later."

It wasn't long before the Kit Kart and its driver were out of sight as Gloyd stood in the light dust cloud that kicked up when the kart took off. Swizzle approached Gloyd and focused his vision on what the pumpkin themed racer was focused on.

"Hey where did Rancis go?" Swizzle questioned.

"He said he was heading home before the party, but I already know what's going on as to why he is "heading home"." Gloyd slyly replied while using air quotes.

"He still couldn't say it could it?" Swizzle questioned, already knowing what Gloyd was talking about.

"No, but I have a plan that will make sure he gets it out." Gloyd expressed. "Walk with me Swizzle and lets have a chat."

Gloyd threw his right arm over Swizzle's shoulder as the two boys began walking back towards the crowd while walking and talking indeed.

**The Surrounding Village (7pm)**

With the Ice Screamer parked in the garage and the owner of the kart inside of her residence, Candlehead lazily lounged on her couch as the question Rancis posed to her danced inside of her mind. While she didn't turn the racer's invitation down, she didn't quite accept it either as she herself didn't know what to do. There were some things that she first needed to sort out in her mind before accepting his invitation and taking such a serious leap. While the invitation was to the party that was to start that next hour, she knew that it would be more than just that one invitation in the future, no telling how far or near. Was she really ready to take that step with him?

Having mulled the question over several times, the cake themed racer then shut it out of her mind and stood up as she heaved a heavy sigh. She mulled over the question enough and had decided that she was just going to bypass the event and just stay home. She began heading for her bedroom when there was a knock at her front door. Making her way to it, she opened the door and was greeted by Rancis. A smile graced her features at seeing the young man at her door.

"Hi Candlehead, are you busy?" Rancis politely questioned with a smile.

"Um, no. I was just heading to bed." Candlehead replied. "Did you want to come in?"

"Well, not particularly, but I did want to speak with you shortly before heading to the castle." Rancis expressed.

"Alright, what's up?" Candlehead hung on.

"Well, this is going to be kind of hard to say, but here goes." Rancis dared as he pushed past his nervous. "I noticed that lately you've been rather distracted, not just on the track, but off the track as well. I've been really worried about you and have wanted to ask if there was anything I can do to help you regain your focus, but I didn't want to intrude. You're one of my very good friends and it bothers me when I see you down and like today, out. I'll do anything to take your troubles away so to see you smile again. So will you please allow me to help you?"

The smile on Candlehead's face got a lot wider at hearing what Rancis recited. While she was used to handling her own ordeals without the help of her friends, even when they ask, this is the first time that one has actually dared to step into her comfort bubble so to lend a hand, even if she didn't ask!

Turning her vision to the ground, the cake themed racer turned back to Rancis with the same smile and nodded.

"Sure, you can help me." Candlehead approved. "But only under one condition, if the invitation to the party tonight is still on the table."

"Of course it is." Rancis happily replied. "I'd lov—like for you to join me."

"I'd _love_ to." Candlehead beamed as she grabbed her jacket from behind her door.

With her jacket in hand, Candlehead closed the door and turned to Rancis, noticing that he was holding out his right hand for her to take. With her jacket draped over her right arm, she took his hand as the two began towards the castle together.

"Rancis?" Candlehead voiced as the golden curled boy turned towards her.

"Yea?" Rancis hung on.

"Thanks." Candlehead thanked him, complete with a kiss on the cheek.

The two continued to the castle together as a goofy smile found its way onto Rancis's face.

As the two continued on, Gloyd and Swizzle were standing at a distance from them and witnessed everything. With dual sly smiles, the two fist bumped, seeing that their handy work went off without a hitch!

* * *

_**This request was for Thegamer98! I hope you liked it! **_

_**Next entry: Feeling that she is losing touch with her fellow racers and the entire game, Vanellope begins feeling down. However Gloyd won't let her stay down for too long as he has the perfect recipe to put the pep back in the president's step! VanillaPumpkin! Stay Tuned!**_

**_Review Please!_**


	4. It's All In The Words

Chapter 4: It's All In The Words!

'_Sometimes finding the right things to say can be challenging, despite the relationship and length of time you've known someone. Tongue tied, scrambled words, jumbled mind, each comes into play when trying to find the right words to make someone's day or even cheer them up. For prankster Gloyd, that task will be an easy one as he knows just what to say to everyone's favorite princess-president when a smile fails to grace her face!'_

* * *

Another end to the race day has come as the last kart in the race crossed the finish line. As per usual, the princess-president of the game crossed the finish line first with Taffyta coming in second place, Rancis coming in third place, and so on. The official last announcement for the end of the arcade day was made as the children who frequented Litwak's arcade often began to gather their things and pile out. Litwak planned to use that next day as a PTO (personal time off) day so to catch up on rest and handle a few other things which meant the arcade was to be closed that Saturday. So with the arcade planned closing of that day, the characters of the video games also got a day off and in some games, that rest will be well deserved.

In the popular racing game, that day off will be more than a well deserved break as the racers could describe the racing hours between 3:45pm to closing time Monday through Friday with the normal 8am to closing hours on Saturdays, to be the days they didn't honestly look forward to and were the busiest so hearing that Litwak was taking that Saturday off was music to their ears. Between Taffyta, Vanellope, Rancis, and Gloyd, the number of times the racers were picked to race until that final announcement was made couldn't be measured and while the racers themselves could never voice their racing strains to the players that picked them most, they however expressed it amongst themselves once the day was over such as tonight for instance…

"I feel exceptionally dizzy right now." Taffyta expressed as she climbed out of her car, but held onto the side of it so to hold herself up on her feet. "I was picked to race like nineteen times! I don't mind racing, but even that many times should be a crime! I think I'm seeing double!"

"Then maybe you should cut down on the amount of hair spray you use." Swizzle joked as he revved down his kart, the engine humming down into a soft purr. "When you're on the tracks, no one can see what your hair looks like anyway due to that bucket of a helmet you wear. Just do what I do, get a hat and go with it."

"Then that would explain why you constantly suffer from split ends!" Taffyta barked back to the second biggest jokester of the race team. "News flash: That hat is out of style and so is your hair!"

Just from that lash out alone, Taffyta felt another wave of vertigo hit her as she held tighter onto the side of her kart.

"Just go away Swizzle, you're stupidity is making me sicker!" Taffyta practically yelled to the racer.

"Whateves." Swizzle mumbled.

With a sigh of discontent, the twisted candy themed racer revved his kart back up to full speed and took off , just leaving Taffyta to catch her second wind from racing.

Vanellope, who accepted yet another first place trophy, looked back to her team with a small frown coming to her face, her confident and proud smile falling. For the past week, not only has her game experienced an influx of quarter alerts and extreme popularity, but the leader had promised to personally taking care of her team, but did have the chance to do it due to the unrest that her game has consistently experienced. Just looking at the restless players before her, the princess-president sighed as she turned her vision turned to the ground.

While always making it a personal note to make sure her race team was always taken care of at the end of the day and even the end of the week, the past week proved to be too much for the leader as she couldn't take a moment out of their race schedule to invite them to the kingdom for a relaxing retreat or a celebration to end yet another successful racing day/week. Lately, by the end of the day, everyone was usually too tired or too weak to think about leaving their village homes after the arcade closed for the day. This didn't set right for the princess-president and while she always succeeded in staying positive, even in the face of diversity, this time she found it hard to even let a smile grace her face.

Gloyd, who noticed Vanellope off in the distance, made his way over to her with the gleeful smile of finally being in third place and being extremely overjoyed of not coming in at a later place, something he was use to doing for the longest time.

"Hey Nellope'." Gloyd called to Vanellope with the nickname he gave to her recently, the royal turning to the boy that called her. "Congrats on winning again. You're pretty fast out there. I guess that would be why you're the leader."

"Thanks Gloyd." Vanellope replied with a tiny curl of a smile on the left side of her face at the jokester's praise. "With all the racing I've been doing, it was bound to happen."

Noticing the tone of voice and mood of his leader, Gloyd's smile fell as he took in the appearance of Vanellope. Normally after a race day and winning first place, the royal never stops talking about the new moves that got her into first place or the sweet seekers that aided in that quest. However, today that was not the case as Vanellope didn't speak a word about her racing, but instead fell into a faltered mood that lead the conversation elsewhere.

"Hey, are you doing ok?" Gloyd cautiously questioned as he gave her the once over, a wave of concern washing over him. "Normally after a race day, you can't stop talking about it."

"I think I'm just tired." Vanellope fibbed as she turned her vision back to the team before her, each one looking more tired than the first. "I'm just going to head home and get some rest. It's been a long week."

"Alright if you say so, see you later 'Nellope." Gloyd replied as he leaned over to peck the girl on the cheek while almost catching a face full of gravel had he not caught himself in time to notice the girl had began her journey back to her kart that was parked not too far away from where he was standing. With slightly pursed lips, a frown graced his face as he watched Vanellope hop into her kart and rev the kart to life.

With her trophy strapped tightly to the spoiler of her kart, Vanellope raced off towards the castle with the racing crowd beginning to clear away and leaving Gloyd with a sense of confusion and a bit of sadness.

"Hey bro, what's with the long face?" Swizzle's voice said to the pumpkin themed racer as Gloyd turned to his left to see the tongue twister parked mere inches from him. "Wait, I know that look. It's about Vanellope isn't it?"

"Yea, it is." Gloyd replied as he turned back in the direction where the Candy kart drove off. "She didn't talk about the race or anything and normally after she wins, she can't stop talking about it. She didn't seem like herself either and I even attempted to peck her on the cheek, but she turned and left."

"Wait, you two are on dating terms now right?" Swizzle asked as he climbed out of his kart. "Did you two _not_ have that talk?"

"We did, but we didn't really agree on where we stood." Gloyd answered as he turned back to Swizzle. "We are just letting things go where they go."

"Then that has to be it." Swizzle predicted the situation. "She could be upset about that and if I were you, I'd go and talk to her right now. It's never good to leave unresolved relationship issues open."

"I think it may be much more than that." Gloyd voiced. "But I'll go talk to her. Hey, whatever happened with you and Minty?"

"Let's just say that she can't get enough of The Swizz." Swizzle slyly expressed, but an out of the blue pop to the back of the twisted candy themed racer's head by an angry Minty suggested otherwise. Both boys turned quickly to see Minty standing before them with what looked to be an exhaust pipe from the Veloci-Wrapper in her right hand while the racer herself was covered in residual exhaust.

"The next time you decide to try to get ahead of me, _avoid_ the back of my kart!" Minty practically screamed as she shoved the exhaust pipe into Swizzle's hands. "And it wouldn't hurt to get that _rust bucket_ you call a kart emissioned before the next race!"

The mint themed racer then turned heel and stormed off.

"You are right, she _just_ can't get enough of you." Gloyd laughed. "But I'm going to go talk to Vanellope right now. Hopefully she's feeling better and the kart bakery will help you with the Veloci-Wrapper."

Gloyd then ran towards the Kernel, just leaving Swizzle with the Veloci-Wrapper's exhaust pipe and a stinging headache from Minty.

**Candy Kingdom (Throne Room)**

"I don't know, I just feel like I've been off my game lately." Vanellope expressed as Sour Bill poured her a cup of orange crush fuze, her new favorite drink, as she leaned back on the throne. "I feel like I'm losing touch with my game and everyone in it. I promised to take care of everyone, but lately, I've felt I let them down because of the increase in quarter alerts and the unrest from consistent racing. Don't get me wrong, I love to race, but even I have to admit that lately it's been too much."

"Well your majesty, what did you expect from a popular racing game?" Sour Bill spoke in his usual monotone deadpan voice as he took a step back, having poured the royal her drink. "Maybe things will slow down next week."

"Yea, maybe." Vanellope sighed as she took a sip of her drink, gulping it down to suggest that the girl was very thirsty. She then placed the empty glass on the silver tray that the ball of candy was holding. "I hope so. Listen, I'm going to go into the code vault so I can think, if anyone comes looking for me."

"Yes your majesty." Sour Bill replied with a slight bow as he then turned and scuttled away.

Hopping off the throne, the princess-president headed into the small walk way leading to the code vault and grabbed a licorice rope. Tying it around her waist, Vanellope didn't hesitate to approach the gaping mouth of the vault and leap into the zero gravity space, free floating as numerous code boxes passed her.

Being surrounded by the vast darkness that was the game's code vault and the purplish blue effervescent streams of data flowing through the wires that provided life to her game, the royal had to admit that there some something relaxing about being in such an environment, something that brought her a sense of peace and after a tough week of racing, that was exactly what she needed to take her mind off of things.

As she continued to free float, Vanellope then landed on top of a random code box and took a seat cross legged on top of it, it giving her the view of the many boxes that were far off and with reaching distance of her.

"While I personally wouldn't come in here to think, I can see why you would." Gloyd's voice spoke, which startled the royal a bit as she turned and saw Gloyd approaching her. A small smile graced her face as she turned back around. The pumpkin themed racer approached the code box she was sitting on and joined her, despite causing the box to shift a tiny bit. "It's rather peaceful in here."

"Yea it is." Vanellope began as she turned to Gloyd. "Sorry if I left earlier in sort of a hurry, I've just had a lot on my mind lately."

"I could tell." Gloyd nodded in agreement. "I'm all ears if you want to share."

"I just." Vanellope began with a bit of hesitation, considering she never really had a one on one with anyone before. "I just feel like I'm letting everyone down and that I'm losing touch with everyone here. This past week has been tough for me to keep my promises to all of you and just seeing how tired everyone was after the last race today just confirmed that. I don't think I'm a very good leader."

"Now you can't say that." Gloyd countered as he placed his arms behind him so that he was propped up on his hands. "You've been an excellent leader of this game since Turbo's downfall. You're even doing a better job than he did. We've just been experiencing a steady stream of quarter alerts and it's been a strain on not just you, but everyone as well. But what can we do? Our game is one of the best ones in the arcade, but we have the day off tomorrow so I say we make the best of it and if you feel that your promises have been missed, tomorrow can be the day you see them through. Although, I personally don't feel that you have to."

Just hearing what Gloyd said, a smile bigger than her previous appeared on her face. Tears began to prick at the royal's eyes, but a simple blink kept them back.

"Wow Gloyd, thanks." Vanellope softly spoke.

"No problem, Tennessee." Gloyd simply replied which earned him a confused look from Vanellope.

"Tennessee?" Vanellope questioned with a cocked eyebrow.

"Yep, because you're the only ten I see." Gloyd joked, which made the royal laugh a bit, something he was hoping would happen. The Vanellope that he was use to seeing was surfacing again.

"If you're trying to ask me out, then you're going to have to do better than that." Vanellope replied, her wide smile unmoving.

"Well, I would like to know one thing and that is if it hurt." Gloyd continued.

"If what hurt?" Vanellope asked in confusion once more.

"When you fell from heaven." Gloyd persisted.

"And I bet I've been running through your mind all day too?" Vanellope contributed, a laugh erupting from her.

"No, just racing." Gloyd replied with a smirk. "And you keep forgetting to turn down your high beams."

A full laugh erupted from the royal that almost made her topple off the top of the code box they were sitting on, but she was caught by Gloyd. The two then caught with the other's vision as Gloyd smiled at seeing the Vanellope he was use to seeing sitting next to him.

"Thanks Gloyd." Vanellope thanks him once more. "I'm glad to know that I have someone like you to lift me when I need it."

"Well, that's just the kind of guy—" Gloyd began, but was interrupted by Vanellope giving him a peck on his right cheek. His cheeks then blushed a deep red from her show of affection.

"I believe I owe you that from earlier." Vanellope expressed. "At least I got to keep one of my promises and I hope that makes things a bit clearer of where we stand."

"Loud and clear mad 'am president." Gloyd spoke. "Loud and clear."

Gloyd couldn't say anything else, but smiled considering that not only was he able to draw Vanellope out of her funk, but the unresolved issue that stood between them was finally resolved. While Gloyd was not normally keen on listening to Swizzle's dating advice, he had to admit that this was one of the instances where he was actually right.

"Good ol'Swizz." Gloyd mentally praised.

* * *

_**That was for you W.R. Winters and I hope you liked it! My apologies once more for taking so long to write and post this. Life and my summer was unforgiving….. ^^***_

_**Next entry: It was Vanellope's fault, but even more the wrecker's. She was in the spot light and the king's favorite, but when he was exposed, she was cast aside like dead data! Now she seeks to end it all with no looking back, but can she be saved before she deletes herself for good? VanillaTaffy friendship! Stay tuned and don't forget to,**_

_**Review Please!**_


	5. Friend

Chapter 5: Friend

'_Friends, how many of us have them? To a lot, making friends can be hard, especially if one didn't have to work hard to gain the friends they have now. Or are those 'friends' mere fans? Fans can turn into friends sometimes, but a lot of them only befriend their idol to gain status through association, something Taffyta comes to learn about her 'friends', but she will learn a true lesson in friendship, one that Vanellope intends to make sure sticks.'_

* * *

From the start of the arcade day until closing time, the Sugar Rush random roster race's roster contained every racer that were to race that day, no matter how many times they were chosen.

Revving engines, lighting fast karts, different tracks to chose from, except for the track that ran through Vanellope's castle as that track had to be unlocked before being driven on, everything a racing game could possibly be. A lead foot and speed demon's dream!

The race would commence day after day with different players whom took the driver's seat, but with each race that took place, something was different, something that not even the players of the game themselves could explain.

The players that chose Taffyta Muttonfudge to race used every ounce of her speed, agility, and even sweet seekers to get her to number one in the race, but she never made it. From the gamers' point of view, she fell further and further behind in the race, as if they never had control of her kart when the race started. It was very odd, but then something out of the blue took place that honestly no one saw coming, the owner of the arcade and the racers alike.

Taffyta Muttonfudge, one of the game's top racers behind the ruler herself, had disappeared off the roster entirely….

No one could explain it, not even the racers of the game. When the races ended, they thought they saw her kart in the line with the first six racers who crossed the finish line first, but it turned out to be a recolor'd racer that came in Taffyta's place at the end. They didn't take the time to really evaluate who was in sixth place of the races, thinking she was already there. After the sixth racer crossed the finish line, the racers that came in after sixth place weren't announced and since she had come in fifth place for the first race, sixth for the past two, and beyond six afterward, they figured she had crossed the finish line despite the trend. However, not seeing Taffyta's name being listed on the roster's announcer board entirely did give the ruler something to ponder.

Wanting to investigate further while not alerting the other racers of a possible problem their game could suffer from, Vanellope entered the code vault and checked the game's information files. She took to Taffyta's code box and noticed that Taffyta's game trails and racing scores hadn't registered in three days, something she found very odd. With the fourth day approaching, she wanted to believe that Taffyta was just taking a small break as racing continuously without a break wore heavily on the racers, but even when she did, she never took it for this long and she would let at least Vanellope know of her change of plans for racing. While it wasn't unusual for racers to rotate on the roster, this occurrence was the first in the game's history.

"That's odd." Vanellope voiced to herself as she checked Taffyta's code box for a clue that could give the ruler some kind of direction of the racer's whereabouts. "Her code box is still active and it says she's still in the game, so where could she be?"

However, getting a closer look at the girl's health meter, Vanellope's hazel eyes widened at what she discovered…..

The answer of Taffyta's whereabouts came to them one night when Candlehead decided to try to locate the racer herself and noticed that Taffyta's kart, the Pink Lightning, was parked in the racer's driveway and looked as if it hadn't moved in days. The front wheels had large craters in them that made the kart hang low to the ground while the back tires were untouched. That's the first thing the cake themed racer noticed, but upon further inspection, she noticed the left side of the kart had deep grooves etched in it as if someone used a screw driver or even a key to create those grooves. The '1' on the side of the car was completely etched away with a large X replacing it. Candlehead felt her stomach drop and her heart pound in needy sadness at the sight of the formula one racer, not believing that someone was so heartless as to vandalize her kart.

Just seeing that made the racer want to cry.

"Oh my user!" Candlehead desperately voiced as she rushed up to Taffyta's door front.

She gave the door a couple of knocks, but found it hanging slightly ajar. This surprised her as Taffyta normally has her doors locked, especially at night. Knocking on the slightly ajar door, the racer quietly tiptoed in while calling out to her racing cohort.

"Taffyta." Candlehead called out. "Taffyta, are you here? If you are, you might want to check your kart right away! It's been vandalized!"

Stepping further into the house and having been inside the strawberry themed racer's house numerous times, she knew just where the front room's lamps were. With the moon as her only light as it streamed into the living room window, Candlehead heard faint sniffles not too far from her as she continued to search for the lamp in the darkness. Curious about the faint crying, Candlehead quickly found the lamp and turned it on. The front room's lamp light quickly lit up the room, but it also gave light to a sight that made her want to break down and cry at what she saw.

Laying right in front of the couch, crumbled into the fetal position was none other than Taffyta Muttonfudge and her appearance looked absolutely devastating. Her choppy white hair was a raving mess, the right sleeve of her jacket was ripped at the joint of her shoulder while the sleeve was completely tattered, the pant legs of her racing outfit matched that of her jacket's right arm, completely tattered, and the condition of her normally well kept face was not one any of the racers would be able to endure if they saw her at that very moment. The sight of the racer scared Candlehead, but it scared her even more at what could have possibly caused such a top racer to decline into such a condition.

Tears pricked at her eyes and her hands flew to her mouth at the devastating sight, her wanting to voice something anything, but yet nothing left her mouth.

Walking over to the girl, Candlehead slowly bent down to her level and hugged the defeated racer close, but Taffyta pushed her off and hid her face behind her damaged sleeve.

"Just…leave!" Taffyta's voice shakily demanded as she continued crying into her sleeve.

"Taffyta, what happened to you?" Candlehead questioned as tears began to roll down her rosy cheeks. "How did this happen?"

"I said get out!" Taffyta screamed as she angrily eyed her fellow racer, Candlehead getting an even better look at Taffyta's face. "I don't _need_ you or _anyone_ babying me! Just leave!"

Candlehead was taken aback by Taffyta's growling tone and while she was use to it in some regard, this is the first time she felt the full blunt of it.

"I'm…I'm going to go get help." Candlehead voiced as Taffyta buried her face back into her sleeve. "Stay here."

Getting back to her feet, Candlehead winced as she heard Taffyta's sobbing increase as she headed for the door. Wanting to burst into a full sob herself, the cake themed racer quickly hurried out the door.

**Candy Kingdom (Conference Room)**

"I couldn't believe it when I saw it myself!" Vanellope expressed to Bill. "Right there in front of me as I checked her code box, her health meter was so low, she is near deletion! I don't know where she is so I don't know what I can do to help remedy the problem."

"Maybe you should try to contact the other racers to figure out where she is." Sour Bill advised as he slowly made his way to the conference table with Vanellope's drink, an attempt to try to cool the president down despite the situation at hand. "Maybe one of them has had contact with her since she disappeared."

"That's an idea, but I don't want them to panic and think our game is headed for being unplugged." Vanellope replied with a sigh. "I'm going to go find her myself. It's the only option left."

"But what about game day tomorrow?" Bill questioned.

"I'll be back before the game day begins, I'm sure of it." Vanellope assured as she leapt to her feet from sitting in her chair. "Before our game gets the orange tag of panic, I have to find Taffyta!"

"That's actually what I came to tell you." Candlehead's voice came from in front of the two as they looked ahead to see the out of breath racer. "I found Taffyta, but she's in terrible condition!"

"Candlehead, we didn't hear you come in." Vanellope greeted, her heart pounding in her chest at what she just heard. "Where is Taffyta?"

"At her home and you have to hurry, she's in bad shape!" Candlehead urged as she ran ahead of the two.

"I'll be back Bill and don't let anyone else know about this." Vanellope quickly voiced as she glitched out of the room, not giving the sour ball of candy a chance to confirm.

* * *

Candlehead and Vanellope converged in front of Taffyta's house, the cake themed racer being out of breath once more from trying to keep up with the ruler.

"Ok, when you saw her, what happened?" Vanellope questioned as she looked around the quiet area that was the village cul-de-sac.

"Her clothes were torn, her hair was a mess, and her eyes." Candlehead spilled, but paused as she shuddered at the sight of the girl's eyes and how dark they looked to her. "Her eyes, I…I can't go on, but her kart was badly damaged like someone had it in for her or something! Vanellope, who would do something that like to her? Who? She's not…Taffyta's not…"

Vanellope pulled her friend into a hug so to comfort her while Candlehead lightly cried on her shoulder. Patting her back, Vanellope released her while giving her a comforting smile.

"It'll be ok." Vanellope voiced with comfort as Candlehead sniffed and wiped her eyes. "I'm going to go talk to her, but you head home and I'll let you know what happens alright?"

Candlehead nodded as she hugged Vanellope once more. She then took off towards her house in the village cul-de-sac. Turning her sights from her friend, Vanellope turned her attention to Taffyta's house where she proceeded to the front porch.

The raven haired princess slightly knocked on the door and noticing that the light was on in the front room, she stepped inside only to be met by a blunt object hitting the wall next to her and breaking, a shard of the object grazing her left cheek. Vanellope quickly looked ahead of her to see a very angry Taffyta, her vision taking in the very sight of her while thinking back to what Candlehead said her appearance was like. She was a wreck!

"Taffyta?" Vanellope stammered as she gave the tattered racer another once over.

"What do you want?!" The racer dangerously hissed as she eyed the ruler. "The last person I wanted to see was you!"

"Taffyta, what happened to you?" Vanellope calmly questioned as she slowly began towards the girl. "Everyone's been so worried about you! I checked your health meter in your code box and-"

"Yea, like you'd care!" Taffyta screeched as she picked up a ceramic mug and tossed it at Vanellope, the girl dodging it before it had a chance to hit her. "Why don't you go back to that large ape and the rest of your fans! I don't need you!"

Vanellope became confused as to why Taffyta was mentioning Ralph at a time like this. After he saved their game, she was very grateful to him for that, so what changed that all of a sudden?

"Ralph? What does he have to do with this?" Vanellope questioned as she continued towards Taffyta. "Look Taffyta, I'm worried about you! You look terrible, what happened?"

"It's always about you!" Taffyta shouted, her choppy white hair falling into her already sweaty and tear stained face, her blue eyes encircled by the dark circles that formed around her eyes. "It's Vanellope this and Vanellope that! I hate hearing your name so much! It makes me sick to my stomach!"

Then it all finally clicked in her mind.

"Taffyta, you disappearing from the tracks for so long, was it because of me?" Vanellope cautiously questioned, not wanting to further set the racer off.

"I guess you're suddenly smarter than all of us!" Taffyta sarcastically snapped.

"Taffyta, what did I do to make that happen?" Vanellope asked, feeling her temper beginning to rise just a taste. "We're all running the same tracks everyday and we all have our own fans so if you feel I stole your fans, I did no such thing!"

"No we don't! You have all of them!" Taffyta screamed as Vanellope continued her slow pace towards her. "Ever since that _smelly_ _ape_ came into our game and you became ruler, it's been all about you! You should have stayed the glitch everyone hated!"

"Hey! That _smelly ape_ saved our game from a very dangerous virus, one who could have had our game unplugged so you _better _watch what you say about Ralph!" Vanellope snapped to her, causing Taffyta to flinch and soften her hard gaze a bit. "You should be very grateful to him because he could have let us die! Anyone else would have! He took that huge risk just for us so you should be thanking him instead of bad mouthing him!"

Taffyta's hard gaze suddenly faltered as the girl broke down into a hard sob, her body shaking violently as she cried. She dropped to her knees as Vanellope quickly enveloped her and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Vanellope…I'm..I'm so sorry!" Taffyta choked through her sob as Vanellope hugged her tighter. "I'm sorry! I tried to delete myself and thought it would be best if I weren't around anymore! I thought no one would miss me!"

"Taffyta, why didn't you just come talk to me?" Vanellope softly spoke to Taffyta through her hard sobbing. "We'd all miss you, don't ever think like that again."

Rubbing her back in comfort, Vanellope felt open cuts in the girl's racing jacket and looking down, saw large slash marks across her back that also sliced into her skin. The only question that came to mind was just how did she manage that?

Tears began to prick at the princess's eyes that quickly swelled and rolled down her cheeks. She held Taffyta tighter while she cried, but couldn't resist the urge not to do so herself. Vanellope's body lightly shook as she held onto Taffyta, both of the girls weeping in silence as they clasped onto each other.

_**Review Please!**_

_**Next Entry: Gloyd is throwing his annual Halloween party and while everyone is invited, there is one special somebody that Gloyd hopes to user will be able to make it. Will he get his wish or will his luckiest day of the year turn into a total let down? Stay tuned to find out and check my DeviantArt account for the official "Fight For The Code" promo art done by my buddy, Vyntresser!**_


	6. Dia De Los Muertos

Chapter 6: Dia De Los Muertos!

'_Dia De Los Muertos, the english translation of "Day Of The Dead" or the traditional name, Halloween. On this day, we celebrate those whom have passed on and are also the time when the veil between this world and the spirit world is at its thinnest! To those whom celebrate and honor the tradition of this day, parties are thrown, an event Gloyd throws every year and with a little luck, the most important person on his list will arrive!'_

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On a table in front of the fireplace sat the picture of an elder. This picture was surrounded by seven red and black candles from front to back and each were being lit one by one. After each candle were lit and the match was extinguished, an offering was placed in front of the elder's picture as fourteen year old Gloyd Orangeboar took a seat in front of the altar that was to be used to honor his grandfather that passed away two years prior. Every Samhain, it is traditional to honor the elders that have passed on, a tradition that has ran for decades within the Organgeboar family.

"Abuelo, hoy me honra usted! (Grandfather, today I honor you!)" Gloyd began as he took a deep breath and lowered his head. "Sé que decir que todos los años, pero me gustaría que pudieras estar aquí para conocer a mis amigos. No tienes idea de lo mucho que te extraño (I know I say this every year, but I wish you could have met my friends. You have no idea how much I miss you).

Taking another deep inward and then outward, Gloyd turned to the picture with a small smile as a warm feeling washed over him.

"Sabes, estoy lanzando mi fiesta anual de Halloween de este año. Recuerdo cómo se utiliza para ayudar a planear los y mis amigos siempre se divierten cuando asisten (You know, I'm throwing my annual Halloween party this year. I remember how you use to help me plan those and my friends always enjoy themselves when they attend." Gloyd continued as he leaned back on his hands, fond memories of when his grandfather helped decórate his house for Halloween coming to mind. "Fuera de mi madre, tú eras el único otro miembro de la familia que estaba cerca (Outside of my mother, you were the only other family member that I were closet to).

Looking around the room, Gloyd's eyes landed on a picture of Vanellope that was perched atop the fire place mantel. Smiling, Gloyd returned his attention back to the picture of his grandfather.

"Sabes, realmente deseo que podría haber cumplido amigo reunido Vanellope Von Schweetz (You know, I really wish you could have met my friend Vanellope Von Schweetz)." Gloyd voiced with a blush. "Bueno, ella me ve como un amigo, pero tengo que ser honesto , me gusta mucho ella. Al igual que más de un amigo (Well she sees me as a friend, but to be honest, I really like her, like more than a friend).

Gloyd took another deep breath and continued on.

"Hay mucho que gusta de ella. Ella es divertida , ella es inteligente , ella es un gran corredor, y las reglas de este juego, pero probablemente ya sabía que jaja (There's so much to like about her. She's funny, she's smart, and rules this game, but you probably already knew that haha)." Gloyd voiced with confidence. "Ella es también un gran corredor y sólo entre tú y yo , ella es también muy bonita , pero yo nunca podría admitir que a ella. Ahí es donde entras tú (She's a really great racer and between you and I, she's also very pretty, but I could never admit that to her).

Pulling his hands back to his body, Gloyd pulled his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them so to hug them tight to him.

"Necesito tu ayuda , así más como bendiciones como quiero decir Vanellope cómo me siento parte de esta noche (I need your help, well blessing, as I want to tell Vanellope how I feel at tonight's party)." Gloyd expressed with hope. "Estuve a punto de decirle a sus numerosas veces, pero las palabras nunca fueron muy allá así que esta noche espero tenerlos (I came close to telling her numerous times, but the words were never quite there so tonight I hope to have them).

Shifting his attention to the clock above the fireplace, Gloyd noticed the time and leapt to his feet.

"Bueno Granpa , tengo que preparar las cosas para la fiesta de esta noche y espero verlos allí (Well granpa, I've got to get ready for the party tonight and I hope to see you there)." Gloyd motioned. "Blessed be!"

Placing his hands together, Gloyd lightly bowed before the altar and blew out the altar candles while waving the smoke of the candles away from him.

"I can never get use to that." Gloyd coughed as he continued waving the smoke from the candles. The doorbell to his front door then rang, catching the boy's attention.

Running to the door, Gloyd opened it to see Candlehead with a bright smile on her face.

"Hey Gloyd!" Candlehead greeted to the melocreme pumpkin themed racer. "I'm here at noon just as you asked me to be."

"Great, right on time." Gloyd greeted the cake themed racer as he welcomed her into his home. "Now when passing out the invitations last night, you didn't give one to Vanellope did you?"

"No, you asked me not to." Candlehead answered as a look of confusion crossed her features. "Which is what I need to ask you about. I thought you wanted her to come to your party, but yet you didn't want me to give her an invitation to your party?"

"That's just it, I want her to come." Gloyd began to clarify. "I want that more than anything, but I want to ask her in a way that will finally tell her how I feel about her and that's why I called you here. I need an idea that will spell out what I've been trying to say for the longest time."

"You haven't told her yet?" Candlehead asked. "What about when you took her to Oreo Overpass that one night for the starlit picnic or even the star gazing trip to Caramel Mountain? Each time, you said you were going to tell her and-"

"And the words were never there." Gloyd finished. "I can never get my words out to tell her I like her because I always chicken out at the last minute! What if she only sees me as a friend and doesn't want to go beyond that? What if she rejects me?"

Looking into the boy's bashful face, Candlehead couldn't help but smile. Ever since regaining their memories back of Vanellope being the ruler of the game, she along with the other racers noticed how the two have danced around the other for the longest time and for Gloyd to plan such an elaborate party invite for Vanellope is something she couldn't help but smile at. She was bursting at the seams with excitement for the two, but even more at what Gloyd was planning to finally ask Vanellope out!

"So what did you have in mind exactly to ask her to your party?" Candlehead inquired, her smile unmoving.

"That's what I need you to help me come up with." Gloyd replied as he ran an unnerving hand through his messy brown hair. "I need one good idea to help me tell Vanellope just what I feel for her, something that she will never forget. Just like what happened to Taffyta and Rancis. I know you had something to do with them getting together."

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't." Candlehead expressed with innocence as she put her hands behind her back.

"That's all Taffyta could talk about for weeks." Gloyd expressed. "Now if only you can do something like that for me with Vanellope, my gratitude would run deep!"

With a mischievous smile coming to her face, Candlehead lightly fingered her lip as ideas began to circulate into the cake themed racer's mind.

"I guess I can come up a _little_ something for you that will guarantee to get her attention." Candlehead voiced. "Let's take a little walk while we talk shall we?"

**Candy Kingdom (Conference Room)**

"I guarantee that the left side of your property will be repaired from the damage it incurred." Vanellope promised with a smile to a village commoner that stood before her. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention."

"Thank you so much princess!" The villager excitedly thanked her. "I owe you so much! Thank you! Thank you!"

"No need to thank me." Vanellope voiced as she shook the woman's hand. "I'm just doing my job as your humble ruler."

With a bow, the villager turned heel and began towards the exit of the conference room. The villager exited the room and with her gone, Vanellope released a sigh as she lowered her head to the table on top of one of the numerous stacks of papers sitting before her.

"Something the matter your majesty?" Sour Bill questioned as he approached the table with a stack of papers in his hands. "You look exhausted."

"That's because I am." Vanellope answered as she turned her attention to Sour Bill while releasing another sigh. "I have so many requests from the villagers that I have to go through with only so much time to go through them. Turbo really did a number on this place that not even the upgrade to the game could fix! Sure, upgrade on the major parts while ignoring what really matters!"

"Why not just take a break from all of this so to recoup for a little while?" Sour Bill suggested as he set the stack of papers in his hands on the table, which further made Vanellope sigh at the amount of work that she faced. Being the ruler shouldn't have this amount of work to it, should it? "Maybe go to Gloyd's party tonight?"

"I would go, but I wasn't invited." Vanellope sadly replied as she lifted her head and propped her right cheek into the palm of her right hand. "You'd think after everything, he'd at least invite me to the annual event of the year, not to mention the biggest."

"Maybe he forgot and plans to give you an invite soon." Sour Bill replied with optimism, despite his voice being in the usual mono tone. "Just like every year, he has a lot to do to set up his parties, but I know he didn't forget you. I've noticed the continued tension you two have between you and if you ask me, no one can miss it. Just give it time your majesty and I promise before the day is over, you'll get an invite to his party."

Despite the ball of candy's usual sour expression, Vanellope could always count on Bill to cheer her up when she needed it. Despite how he sounded when he voiced it.

"Thanks Bill." Vanellope nodded as a smile graced her face. "I'll keep that in mind while I work my way through all of these requests."

"The day is still young so there's still plenty of time to get it all done." Bill expressed. "How about I bring you your favorite drink while you work through all of these?"

"I would like that, thank you." Vanellope expressed appreciation as she opened the first folder in front of her to begin working on her requests.

Without another word, Sour Bill scuttled towards the exit of the conference room and upon reaching the exit, he was quickly grabbed up by a pair of black gloved hands as a cloth was placed over the ball of candy's mouth, instantly knocking him out. With the candy ball unconscious, the guy with long dark haired that held Sour Bill set him down on the ground as a guy with short white hair joined him.

"Great, now it's time to move on to phase two." The guy with white hair hissed to the other as he picked up Sour Bill and placed him under his right arm like a basketball.

"But what if she comes out and begins looking for him?" The dark haired guy replied. "Surely she will."

"We'll worry about that later on, but for now, we have to keep moving if we expect this to work." The white haired guy expressed as he and the dark haired guy darted towards the exit of the castle.

Vanellope closed the first folder and set it aside, having finished it earlier than she expected to. Turning to her watch, the royal noticed that the time read one forty five. With a small smile, she grabbed the second folder and began going through the requests in that folder, her noticing that not many are within the contents of the folder.

"That folder was easy to go through." Vanellope stated with a slight sigh. "I may be able to go to Gloyd's party tonight after all that is if he wants me there."

With a sigh at the thought of what she may be faced with that night, Vanellope began working on the second folder to get it done before that night, despite the eight that sat behind the one she was already working on.

As the raven haired girl continued working on the folder, she wasn't aware of the cake themed racer waltzing into the conference room.

"Hi Vanellope!" Candlehead voiced as Vanellope looked up to notice the young woman.

"Oh hey Candlehead." Vanellope greeted back as she looked back down at her folder while adding her final notes to the one request. "Have you seen Sour Bill? I could really use that drink right now."

"No, but what are you doing?" Candlehead casually questioned as she made her way over to the princess-president.

"Working on requests from the villagers." Vanellope answered as she completed the last page in the second folder while closing it. She laid her hands on top of it and softly sighed while leaning back in her chair. "One gamer's house's whole left side is torn down so I have to put together a trust for her so she can get it repaired, another villager is looking to build a house as he is expanding his family, another one wants a dog house built, and lastly, one villager needs her house totally remodeled after the last cybug attack, thus another trust being created. When the game was upgraded, the upgrade only upgraded the parts of the game that mattered like my castle, our karts, and even us, but failed to even touch the little parts which is what I'm doing here so to fill in the gaps."

"And you have a lot of work to do." Candlehead pointed out as she looked among the table to the many folders that were laid on top it. "Do you think you'll be done in time for Gloyd's party tonight?"

Getting to her feet, Vanellope grabbed the folder and placed it on the chair next to her while eyeing her cohort.

"I would go, but Gloyd didn't invite me." Vanellope sternly replied as she sat back down and began working on the third folder, just leaving seven left to work through. "So I'll be at this all day and all night."

Just as Candlehead opened her mouth to reply, an ear piercing sound ripped through the air quickly gaining both girls' attention, the sound recognized by Vanellope as the Code Room's siren.

"What is that sound?!" Candlehead screeched over the siren while covering her ears. "It's so loud!"

"The Code Room's alarm!" Vanellope hollered over the blaring siren as she jumped to her feet. "There's an intruder in the castle and they're trying to get into the code room! We have to get to them before they destroy us!"

Quickly forgetting about her amount of work, Vanellope glitched out of the conference room, but not without grabbing her cake themed cohort along the way.

Vanellope quickly glitched to the entrance of the code room to find the NES pad that locks the room still in the position that keeps the room locked from intruders. Quickly approaching the panel on the wall next to the pad that controls both the room's alarm as well as the game's virus protection, Vanellope shut the alarm off, which made Candlehead breathe a sigh of relief as her ears began calming from the alarm ringing so loudly in them.

"The room is still locked as anyone who got into the code room couldn't lock it from the inside." Vanellope stated as she looked around the area for any signs of an intruder. "I wonder what set the alarm off if there isn't an intruder."

"Maybe a glitch triggered the alarm." Candlehead figured. "That can happen too."

"Since the upgrade to our game, there hasn't been a single glitch and with me being the core, I would be notified before anyone else if such a thing happened." Vanellope replied in confusion. "We better go into the village. Maybe the coward took off there in an attempt to hide from me."

Grabbing a hold of her cohort once more, Vanellope was about to glitch out of the castle and towards the village when Jubileena, Gloyd, Adorabeezle, Taffyta, and Rancis came running into the castle while calling out to Vanellope. The five then approached a shocked Vanellope and Candlehead.

"We came as soon as we heard the siren!" Taffyta urgently voiced as she looked between Vanellope and Candlehead. "Are you guys ok?"

"Wait, you guys heard the Code Room's siren from out in the village?" Vanellope questioned with confusion.

"Yea and I'm pretty sure all of Game Central Station heard it too." Rancis added in. "That siren is loud."

"Another thing that upgrade blessed us with." Vanellope mumbled. "But we're ok. We were just heading into the village to make sure you guys were ok. If the intruder couldn't get into the code room, he might be hiding out in the village."

"I'm glad that you're alright Vanellope." Gloyd spoke up as he took a step closer to the royal. "For a moment there I was worried about you and thought the worse when I heard the siren."

Catching eyes with the boy, Vanellope frowned as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"Were you now?" Vanellope flatly replied, which confuses the boy.

"Yes because there is something I've been meaning to ask you for a week now, but couldn't quite gather my words to ask you." Gloyd continued. "I want to ask you, would you do me the honors of being my date for my Halloween party tonight?"

"Gloyd, there is an intruder lose in Sugar Rush!" Vanellope urged. "We can talk about that later after I make sure this game will still be standing later!"

"No need, you can give him an answer now." A husky voice spoke to the right of the group.

Turning to their right, everyone noticed two figures, one dressed in a white and blue cloak with the hood covering his face and another whose cloak was not covering his head, but instead was wearing a decorated black sombrero that was covering the stranger's face.

"Who are you guys and what do you want with Sugar Rush?!" Gloyd fiercely challenged as he stood in front of Vanellope and Candlehead so to protect them from whatever the strangers might have been planning. "Whatever you're planning, your time is up because you're messing with the wrong racers!"

"I have an idea of what they want." Candlehead casually voiced as she walked from behind Gloyd and to the two strangers, which spun everyone into confusion. "Everyone, meet Jimmy Jawcracker and Larry De Lickerish."

Jimmy removed his cloak's hood while Larry pushed his sombrero up from over his eyes. With her gaze glued to Larry, Adorabeezle's mouth gaped open at the sight of him.

"Adorabeezle, your eyes are drooling." Jubileena whispered to Adorabeezle (Beezy) who didn't so much as blink at the girl's response.

"These guys are from the new game that just got plugged in next to us last week, Rival Racing." Candlehead continued to introduce the two. "They really don't know anyone in the arcade so I invited them to Gloyd's Halloween party tonight to make some new friends. Larry, Jimmy, these are my friends Jubileena, Taffyta, Adorabeezle, Rancis, Gloyd, and the ruler of our game Vanellope Von Schweetz."

"Sorry to have scared the sprinkles out of you guys." Jimmy apologized. "After Candlehead told us what was going on with you two, we knew just what to do you get you two together. It's a specialty of ours that always works in our own game. Oh and I believe this is your assistant."

Reaching under his cloak, Jimmy pulled out Sour Bill and gently set him down on the ground, the sour ball of candy looking ever so disgruntled at being used as a pawn.

"By setting off the alarm in the code room and kidnapping my assistant?!" Vanellope barked as her expression hardened. "You made me think an intruder was in the castle! Couldn't you think of another way such as maybe talking to us first?! Do you know how much work I have to do?!"

"It may not have been the ideal way, but it worked." Larry voiced with a small laugh.

"And about that." Candlehead continued. "It's a known fact that after an emotional experience, emotions are heightened which can lead to either an interesting or tragic outcome. Gloyd didn't invite you to his party by way of invitation because he wanted to ask you himself in a special way. We set the stage so to get you two together so now the rest is up to you."

Taking in what Candlehead was saying, Vanellope's hard expression softened as Gloyd turned to her.

"While an invitation is normally ideal, I wanted my asking you to be special." Gloyd continued. "Maybe not like this, but in a way that I knew would put a smile on your face. So Vanellope, would you?"

Staring into the boy's eyes, Vanellope's mind began reeling back to the amount of work she had to do, but considering that this was very important to Gloyd, a night of fun wouldn't hurt anything. And she could really use the break too!

Blinking a few times, a small smile graced her face as she nodded in response.

"Yes Gloyd, I'll be your date tonight." Vanellope gently permitted. "But you could have just asked me you know. I actually thought you didn't invite me on purpose."

"I know, but I always get tongue tied whenever I'm around you." Gloyd openly admitted. "But I am really looking forward to tonight."

"Me too." Vanellope agreed. "Maybe you can help me pick out a costume for tonight."

"Looks like we won't be the only cute couple there." Taffyta expressed to Rancis as she hooked her right arm around his left.

"Alright, now that the crisis has been averted, party at Orangeboar's tonight, 8pm!" Jimmy excitedly called out as he and the others began their way towards the exit of the castle, Adorabeezle following closely behind Larry the entire way while just leaving Vanellope and Gloyd behind.

"So is it true that after a scary experience, emotions tend to become more heightened?" Gloyd softly questioned.

"From what I understand because I certainly am feeling a little something." Vanellope teased as she began towards the castle doors with Gloyd, her right hand intertwined with his left.

"Just a little?" Gloyd questioned.

"I don't want to ruin the surprise for tonight." Vanellope winked to the boy as the two continued to the castle doors.

"Gracias Abuelo!" Gloyd mentally thanked his grandfather as the two continued towards the castle doors with a huge smile on his face.

If Gloyd had turned around for just one minute, he would have seen the spirit of his grandfather watching on, happy to see that his grandson finally got his Halloween wish!

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_**Happy Halloween everyone and I hope you enjoyed this Hardwrapping! For your outstanding collaboration with my story Fight For The Code! :)**_

_**(Jimmy Jawcracker and Larry De Lickerish are OCs of Hardwrapping's Sugar Rush Rival Racing, Return of a King, and his high school stories. They are awesome so please check them out!)**_

_**Next Entry: A continuation of Friend, Vanellope helps Taffyta overcome the five stages of grief. Will Vanellope be successful in helping her friend in her uphill battle or will she fail? Stay tuned to find out! **_

_**Fight For The Code will be hopefully be updated soon so be on the lookout for that as well!**_

_**Review Please!**_


	7. 7Up Hill Battle I

Chapter 7: 7up Hill Battle I

'_When we're feeling down and struggling with depression, we often feel we have no one to turn to, even to the best of our friends. We shut others out and proceed to deal with our struggles on our own, feeling as if we are the only ones who understand our plight. However, we must see past the dark clouds and into the light, knowing that there is a shoulder to lean on and someone to help us overcome our darkness, something Taffyta will soon learn when Vanellope is there to lift her up in her time of need!'_

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The tea pot sitting atop the blazing stove eye whistled, signaling the end of the water's boiling for the tea that was ready to be brewed. Turning the eye of the stove off and with a pot holder in her steady hand, Vanellope grabbed the handle of the tea pot and proceeded to pour the scolding liquid into a white and pink striped cup that sat atop the strawberry swirled tiled kitchen counter.

Setting the empty pot back on the stove, the royal grabbed the sugar cup from the spice rack above and entered the amount of sugar she knew her friend would normally put in her tea. Setting the sugar back, Vanellope grabbed a spoon and stirred the sugar in the tea as she bounced the tea bag in and out of the cup, the minty leaves spilling their reserves into the water as she did so. Placing the bag back into the cup, Vanellope grabbed a paper towel and placed it under the mug as she left the kitchen.

Entering into the living room, she noticed Taffyta lying on her couch with her favorite blanket around her, the quilt wrapping the racer up almost like a burrito. The strawberry themed racer's eyes held a blank expression as she looked forward to the wall ahead, Vanellope's heavy footsteps, as she entered the living room, didn't even get the racer's attention.

"It's ready and I made it just how you like it." Vanellope voiced as she held the cup down in front of Taffyta, the strawberry blonde girl sitting up and gently taking the cup from Vanellope. "Careful, it's hot."

With a small smile, Taffyta hovered the cup near her lips as Vanellope took a seat next to her on the couch, her concerned hazel orbs watching as her friend took careful sips of the freshly made tea.

"So Taffyta, how are you feeling?" Vanellope carefully questioned as she tucked some loose hairs behind both her ears, her gaze never leaving Taffyta. "When you disappeared from the tracks, I was really worried about you. What's really going on?"

Lowering her cup from her mouth, Taffyta dropped her gaze into the hot liquid below, her reflection staring back at her. From what she could see, her reflection no longer viewed the racer she was, but the broken shell of the racer she was now and that's the last person she wanted to see. Tears began pricking at the corner of her eyes as she continued staring into the liquid.

"I…..I felt I had no reason to be there." Taffyta finally spoke, her gaze barely shifting to Vanellope. "I thought that the only racer everyone wanted to see was you so I dropped out of the roster. I gave away my token to Tarvold…."

"Batterbutter, I know." Vanellope finished. "She was very happy with the honor, but it would have been great if I were notified of the change."

Taffyta became quiet once more as she looked away from her tea as well as Vanellope.

"I know." Taffyta quietly spoke.

"Do you feel you can't talk to me or didn't think I'd understand?" Vanellope continued gently as she noticed Taffyta turn back to her cup of tea, the hair on the right side of her face covering her view from the royal. "You know you can always talk to me about anything, you know that."

Sighing, Taffyta turned to Vanellope, shortly catching with her vision before turning back to her tea. She then took a small careful sip and placed the cup back in its previous position, the steam continued rising from the freshly brewed mixture.

"I honestly didn't think you'd understand." Taffyta softly spoke as she felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes that swiftly coated her bottom eye lids. "Ever since the game reset and you weren't a glitch anymore, I felt that you were reveling in the attention you always wanted before you became a real racer. I felt it all was going to your head and that the only one who honestly mattered was you."

Cocking an eyebrow, Vanellope could feel her temper beginning to surface, but quietly and quickly simmered it down so to let Taffyta continue. While that last statement didn't quite settle right with her, being angry with the already broken racer was not going to help matters at that moment.

"Alright." Was all Vanellope could say as she kept her vision on Taffyta.

"So I became numb and nothing made sense anymore." Taffyta continued as her tears spilled down her cheeks. "Not even racing. I lost my passion and asked myself why continue if it was going to be about you all the time?! It was Vanellope this, and Vanellope that! I couldn't take it anymore! Even seeing you made everything that much worse for me!"

By then, Taffyta was visibly shaking as more tears spilled down her cheeks and some, into her cup of tea as she lowered her head while shutting her eyes tightly.

"Denial." Vanellope softly muttered. "Turbo/King Candy's defeat sent you into denial about what was really going on. His presence here was an illusion. He wasn't programmed for the game to begin with. He hacked his way in!"

"Then I became angry! With everything, with you!" Taffyta's voice got louder as she quickly set the cup down on the coffee table and leapt to her feet. She whipped her attention back to Vanellope, her anger clearly visible on her face. "I didn't want to see your face on the tracks, on the leader board, anywhere! I was tired of living in your shadow Vanellope! Tired of it! King Candy was the ruler, not you! I even became angry at Ralph for even helping you! Why did he even help you or meet you to begin with? If that hadn't happened, King Candy would still be on throne and you'd still be the glitch everyone hated!"

"Anger." Vanellope seethingly sighed as she got to her feet. "I clearly got a taste of that when I walked in here and watch what you say about Ralph. He exposed King Candy for who he was and saved our game from being unplugged! You owe him for that!"

Vanellope's stern tone and facial expression made the strawberry themed racer flinch slightly as her facial expression changed from anger to concern, Taffyta turning her vision to the ground as the flow of her tears began to slow.

"After disappearing back here, everything started making sense to me." Taffyta continued as she turned her vision back to Vanellope, her tone softer than previously. "King Candy was gone, our memories returned of who was really in charge, and my place in the game was nothing more than just another racer when I was always in the number one spot, the king's favorite. I even prayed to user that if everything went back to normal, King Candy returned, and you didn't exist anymore, I would not be so competitive, and would even be nice if I met you."

Small patches of the ruler's code began to surface on her body as Vanellope's temper began to really rise, but due to the delicate circumstances at hand, the royal began simmering it down once more, despite a few streams slipping through the cracks.

"You prayed to user to have my existence wiped from this game so that tyrant of a virus could continue to make a _mockery_ of my game?!" Vanellope raised her voice as she gestured her hands outward in frustration. "Taffyta!"

"I'm sorry, I was hurting ok?" Taffyta exclaimed as she quickly turned away from Vanellope, noticing that her confessions were doing more harm than good. "I just wanted so badly for everything to go back to normal and when reality hit, I had to face what was really going on. King Candy was truly gone and I would no longer be in the spotlight. Being the ruler, you were naturally going to get all the attention. You were named the best racer, the kindest ruler, everyone loves you. Seeing that I wasn't in your shoes, sent me into a downward spiral, a dark one. I couldn't get myself to even get out of bed some days, get in my kart and head to the tracks. I just couldn't do anything except know that I would always be number two, the loser, the one no one loved any longer. Without King Candy, I was an anonymous racer."

"Depression." Vanellope spoke as her expression softened at hearing just how badly the racer was broken after the recent events. "Taffyta, you are not a loser or number two to me. You're a great racer and not even I can shadow that. While you thought I wouldn't understand what you were feeling, trust me, I know exactly how you were feeling. When I was a mere glitch, I wanted nothing more than to be one of you, a real racer and have a real kart. Each time I thought I was going to live my dream, it was always shattered by that tyrant or even one of you because I was always told I didn't belong and was a mere mistake! I was crushed and nearly gave up, but because of Ralph and all he did for me, I finally reached my potential and exposed that virus for what he was! While I eventually accepted my fate to remain hidden and never become a real racer, I got a dose of reality that I never thought would happen, just like you are now. I'm nothing like you thought and wish you would have taken the chance to find out."

Taking in what Vanellope stated, Taffyta slowly turned her vision back to the royal, her heart processing each and every emotion of the statement that sunk in as a tense silence fell around the two. The feeling of guilt hit her skin like sharp daggers as she turned her attention back to Vanellope fully. The memories of when Vanellope was a glitch, her and the other racers relentlessly bullying her, and hunting her down per the king's orders played through her mind quickly like a fast moving train. The guilty daggers continued as she slowly approached Vanellope.

"Finally, I accepted it." Taffyta voiced, breaking the silence. "I accepted that this is what it came to and this is my reality. You're the Candy Kingdom's ruler and the best that will ever be."

The flow of tears began to pick up once more as the strawberry themed racer placed her face in her hands as she began to crumble into a hard sob right before her princess's very eyes.

"I'm sorry Vanellope!" Taffyta sobbed as Vanellope pulled her into a comforting hug. "I have been the worst person to you when you didn't deserve it!"

Vanellope shut her eyes and tightened her grip on her friend while rubbing her back in an attempt to assuage her anguish. The royal felt tears rushing to the surface of her eyes, but she pushed them back so to stay strong for her friend in need.

"No need to apologize Taffy." Vanellope spoke in a tone close to a whisper. "You were going through grief for what took place and that's natural, but I've got an idea of what we can do to get you back on the tracks."

Taffyta's sobbing halted as she lifted off of Vanellope's shoulder, their visions catching. The royal softly beamed a smile in her friend's direction.

"What?" Taffyta spoke as she wiped the tears from her red eyes with the princess's help. "You mean you're going to help me after all I've done to you? I was mean, I bullied you, and when you came in here, I-"

Taffyta was quickly silenced by the princess lightly laughing while gripping her shoulders a bit.

"Taffyta, I forgave all of you after our memories returned." Vanellope expressed. "Technically you all were rewired by Turbo to act in such a manner, but I know you are sorry for what happened so there is no reason for me to hold anything against you. I'm going to help you make it back to the tracks if the last thing I do. Not only am I your ruler, I'm also your friend. Do you trust me to help you?"

Looking into the royal's hazel orbs, the strawberry themed racer noticed that no malice hid in the words the royal spoke, but yet held every bit of sincerity stored within her code. A small smile graced her face as she nodded to Vanellope.

"I trust you." Taffyta replied with a sniff. "I want you to help me get back my passion for racing and finally become number one again!"

"You got it." Vanellope agreed as she and Taffyta shared yet another hug.

As the two girls held each other in a tight embrace, they were unaware of two dark shadows looming outside of Taffyta's living room picture window, listening to every word the girls were saying to each other. Seeing the two brought sly smiles to their faces as their crimson and cyan eyes shined with growing devious anticipation.

"Vanellope, there is something else I have to tell you." Taffyta voiced as the two figures watched the two separate from each other. "There is more to why I disappeared from the tracks and why I tried to delete myself from the game. Please promise me that you won't tell anyone else about this."

"I promise." Vanellope confirmed with growing concern. "What's wrong?"

With their vision on the two, the two shadows eyes' narrowed in delight, seeing that while they were successful in scaring the racer originally, her bringing someone else into her bubble of fear was much more delightful in their point of view. Two was always better than one.

"Well well, it appears that our attempt at silencing you didn't quite do the trick my dear." The first figure deviously voiced as his crimson eyes shined.

"So be ready for what's surely going to kick into high gear!" The second shadow finished the first's sentence as his eyes glowed a deep cyan.

"If you think your core is going to save you from what's to come your way." The first began once more.

"Then you're surely in for it this very day!" The second shadow completed.

Taking one last look into the girl's window, the figures disappeared under the cloak of darkness, eager to put the next phase of their plan into action.

* * *

_**Looks like Vanellope got the confession she was looking for, but it appears there is more to this story than anyone knows so stay tuned for part 2 as normality in the sugary land is still a ways off, at least according to shadows that are plotting against the two girls as we speak!**_

_**Next Entry: Hero's Cuties! It's Felix and Calhoun's first wedding anniversary and Tamora has a big surprise for her husband. However, being inexperienced in this field, obtaining the desired gift will be harder than she originally thought it was going to be! Will she be able to pull it off before their big night?**_

_**Review Please!**_


	8. Hero's Cuties' First Year!

Chapter 8: Hero's Cuties' First Year!

'_When you think about an anniversary, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Dinner? Dancing? Maybe a quiet evening at home? If an idea for a special gift comes to mind, what would come to mind to give to that special someone? While she struggles to do something special for Felix, Tamora will realize that there is no better anniversary gift than the one that holds your heart!_

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The trashcan lid opened as another attempt at the special meal planned slid into the discard reciprocal. A sigh was released as the lid closed, Tamora raising her foot from the trashcan's lever.

"That's attempt number five." Tamora voiced with exhaustion as she placed the greasy roasting pan back on the counter. She removed her oven mitts and placed them on the counter next to the pan while turning to the clock, noticing the time read 5pm. "I'll never get this done before he gets home. He deserves something wonderful and I can't even give it to him."

With another sigh, the sergeant turned her back to the counter and crossed her arms, the thought of her wedding day playing back in her mind. How happy she and Felix were, Vanellope and Ralph being the grand witnesses at her and Felix's wedding, the guest list turn out, the honeymoon. To her, it was a dream come true, something she had always wished for and finally obtained, despite her earlier tragedy as told in her back story. But the one thing she could never understand was what the small and timid handyman saw in someone like her. A woman who was use to pushing around men twice his size in her game, but he did not let that intimidate him one bit. He saw passed that to something much greater, something she wishes she could figure out.

"I wonder what Felix ever saw me." Tamora spoke to herself as she closed her eyes. "I'm not much of a cook and can't leave my work where it should be, back in my own game. I can't even cook a decent meal for my husband!"

Turning back around, she opened her eyes as they landed on the wedding photo that sat adjacent to the coffee machine. By having that picture and many more like it around the apartment, they are the handyman's inspiration but more, another reminder of why he enjoyed coming home after fixing the apartment buildings that Ralph wrecked during game hours. The first meal they cooked together as a married couple is what the picture reminded him of. As much she would like to share in the memories of that one photo, she found it hard to do so considering that Felix knew the essentials of what it took to care for a household and cook for himself while Tamora was used to simple meals that were heated by the microwave and/or the oven, not giving the preparations for the meal much thought. Considering her role in her game, simple was all she could afford due to always being on the go and dealing with bumbling military recruit/members.

Then a memory from earlier in the day as she made her way to the apartment flashed in her mind, the image of two Nice Landers enjoying a home cooked meal on the patio of their apartment under the clear night sky full of stars and for desert, a freshly baked pie. From what her nose caught of the scent of the pie, it was apple.

And that's when it hit her!

"That's it!" Tamora's voice pitched. "Why didn't I think of it before?! Felix loves pies! I could bake him his favorite pie for our anniversary. Let's just hope I get this right before he gets home at seven."

Grabbing the greasy pan that held the failed previous attempted pot roasts, Tamora placed it in the sink of dish water and grabbed a mixing bowl, pie pan, and the corresponding ingredients to make her husband his favorite pie. Tearing open the flour bag with the intention to pour it into the pan, the sergeant's action was halted by a knock at the door.

"I wonder who that could be." Tamora wondered as she placed the flour bag back on the counter and wiped her hands on her apron.

The knock occurred again as Tamora made her way over to the door. Opening it, she looked around before looking down to find Sugar Rush's ruler standing on her doorstep with a small gift wrapped box with a mint colored bow sitting atop it in her hands.

"Happy Anniversary!" Vanellope cheered as she held her gift up to the Sergeant. "I hope you guys like it! Taffyta helped me pick it out."

Smiling, Tamora took the gift from the ruler.

"Thank you sugar snap." Tamora replied. "Come on in."

"So what are you guys doing for your anniversary?" Vanellope inquired as she stepped in and looked around the area for Felix, but didn't spot him anywhere. "Is he here?"

"No, Felix had some business to handle with Ralph in Game Central station." Tamora answered the young girl as she made her way back to the kitchen with the gift in her hands. "They'll be back at seven."

"Well that explains why I saw Ralph and Felix walking the halls of the station when I came out of my game to come here." Vanellope nodded as she followed closely behind the Sergeant to the kitchen. "He had his hammer in his hand so I guess he fixed something already."

Reaching the kitchen, Tamora set the gift on the counter while Vanellope stood on her tip toes to see what the older woman was up to.

"So whatcha doing here?" Vanellope innocently inquired as she hopped up to see what was on the counter. Landing back on her feet, she leapt up once more while mentally cursing her game developers for her short stature.

Chuckling at the girl's attempt to see over the counter, Tamora grabbed a chair from the dining room table and placed it at the counter. Vanellope climbed up on it and noticed that baking ingredients were splayed across the counter.

"You're baking Felix a pie?" Vanellope questioned as she caught eyes with the Sergeant. "That's it?"

"Well yes." Tamora answered with slight embarrassment as she looked back to the counter, to the baking ingredients. Grabbing the bag of flour, she proceeded to pour the white powder into the pan. "I tried to make him a pot roast, five times, but that didn't quite work out. Since we got married, I have tried to cook his favorite meals and be the wife he deserves, but I'm just not good at this homemaking routine. He steps in to help me when it's my job to do this for him."

Placing the bag of flour down on the counter, Tamora sighed and caught with Vanellope's vision briefly before turning back to the pie pan full of flour.

"I don't think I'll ever get this right." Tamora concluded with an exasperated sigh. "I don't know what he ever saw in me."

Hearing the disappointment in her voice, Vanellope lowered her vision to the counter, to the baking ingredients splayed about. With a burning determination to help out her friend surfacing in her code, Vanellope placed her hands on the counter.

"You want to make Felix the best pie he ever tasted." Vanellope began as Tamora turned back to her. "Then you're going to do just that! And I'm going to help you!"

"Are you sure?" Tamora questioned to the ruler who picked up the dough that was to be the pie's crust. "This is a pretty big job."

"I've seen my chefs do this plenty of times." Vanellope scoffed as she began rolling the dough in her hands. "This'll be easy!"

"Alright, if you're sure." Tamora expressed with a smile. "Lets' make him the best pie he ever tasted."

With the dough already in Vanellope's hands, she began to roll it into small ropes. Grabbing a small paring knife from the drain board next to her left arm, she began cutting the thick ropes into smaller segments, splitting up what she cut between Tamora and herself.

"Once we make enough of these, we can roll them flat like I've seen my chefs do and place them on top of the pie." Vanellope expressed. "We should have this done before 6pm."

No sooner after making that statement, Vanellope slid the remainder of the Tamora's dough to her side. Swiftly moving her hand back to her side of the counter, the royal's hand ran into the pie pan full of flour. The pan slid across the counter and before the royal could grab it, the flour filled pan slid into the sink full of dish water! With a sigh, Vanellope reached into the sink and grabbed the pan, the soaking flour dripping into the water like clumps of clay.

"We're going to need more flour." Vanellope voiced with dread as she brought the drenched pan into Tamora's line of vision. "The pan fell in the sink."

Observing the pan, Tamora took it from the girl.

"We'll worry about that a bit later." Tamora gently spoke to the royal as she placed the pan down. "Let's just get the main part of the pie done, that being the crust and then we'll load up the pan. After its cleaned out."

With no words spoken, the royal and Sergeant proceeded to work on the dough for the pie. With a brief glance at the clock, Tamora continued her project.

Having her dough ropes flattened, Tamora placed the rolling pin down and reached over for the paring knife Vanellope used earlier, carefully grabbing the handle of the knife. Placing her dough strips side by side, the Sergeant began cutting them.

"Could you grab the sliced apples out of the fridge for me?" Tamora requested to the royal, who was still flattening her dough rolls.

"Sure!" Vanellope happily obliged. "Just let me climb down and-"

Before the royal could complete her thought, her right hand landed in the wet pan, instead of on the counter, and made the pan flip up. The soaking wet pan lined with the drenched flour slammed right into her arm and the wet flour splashed onto the left side of the girl's face, neck, and hair. Tamora saw the commotion out of her left peripheral vision and turned to the girl to see if she was alright. With her eyes off of her task, the knife in Tamora's hand came down on the dough and the tip of her right index finger! The Sergeant's attention was quickly brought back to the task at hand.

"For all that's coded in the arcade!" Tamora cursed from the pain and the moderately deep gash on her finger. Holding tightly onto her finger to catch the blood before it could spill out of the gash, Tamora turned to Vanellope as the girl grabbed the bowl of sliced apples from the fridge.

"Thanks sugar snap." Tamora voiced as she grabbed the bowl of apples from the small girl. "You know, I wouldn't have gone this far without your help."

"No problem and any time." Vanellope replied as she began wiping the wet flour from her face with a small smile. "I had nothing but time today since my character hasn't been unlocked in the game yet. Let's finish this before Felix gets home."

"Let me grab a bandage before we continue." Tamora voiced as she turned and headed for the master bedroom.

Vanellope climbed back on the chair, to the counter so she could clean up the mess and continue making the dough for Felix's pie. Grabbing the dish towel, Vanellope began cleaning up the counter when the front door opened and Ralph and Felix stepped through, Felix laughing at an apparent joke Ralph made.

"So I all I have to do is grab them by their legs, rip them apart, and step on what's left of their shells!" Ralph continued, making a demonstration with his hands and feet of how he normally took a cybug down. "And that's how you wreck a cybug to pieces. Your hammer does the trick, believe me, but I like to see them in pieces before I'm satisfied!"

"Haha, I'll take your word for it Ralph." Felix laughed as he looked ahead of him and noticed Vanellope in the kitchen, the girl's hazel vision staring at the two men at the door. The handyman's expression sloped to confusion as he eyed the girl with his right eyebrow cocked. "Vanellope, what are you doing here? And where's Tamora?"

"Um, she's grabbing a bandage for her finger." Vanellope confidently answered as she continued cleaning off the counter. "And I'm here to visit. None of the players unlocked my character yet so I thought I'd stop by and see what you guys were up to for your anniversary. You'd think by now someone would know how to unlock a playable character, but even I'm prone to surprises."

Felix and Ralph made their way into the main living area, but stopped upon hearing Tamora's voice as she entered the hallway.

"Crisis averted!" Tamora announced, her voice laced with pride as she made her way back into the kitchen. "Alright, let's complete this mission before-"

Noticing the direction the royal was looking in, Tamora looked to her right and noticed Felix and Ralph standing in the living room, her eyes widening at the sight of the two men.

"Felix, Ralph, you're...home." Tamora stammered with the thought of her anniversary surprise not being anywhere near ready for her husband rushing through her mind. "I thought you were going to be home at 7pm."

"Ralph and I finished early." Felix replied in a hurried tone as he ran up to Tamora and grabbed her right hand, observing the bandage that was placed on her right index finger. "What happened to you?"

Before Tamora could answer her husband, Felix rushed around her to the kitchen. He observed the mess the royal was covered in along with the counter and the kitchen floor. He peered into the sink and noticed the sink full of dish water and the top of the roasting pan sticking out of the soapy liquid.

"What happened here?" Felix questioned as he looked to Vanellope briefly and back to his wife. Her vision caught with his briefly before she turned away and looked to the ground. Felix walked back to the living room and stood directly in front of her, awaiting answers.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room, but Tamora speaking up quickly broke that silence.

"I tried to make you a special anniversary dinner." Tamora expressed, her vision remaining glued to the ground. "I tried to make your favorite pot roast five times, but each time, I just made a mess."

The Sergeant then caught eyes with her husband, his soft vision hanging on every word that left her mouth.

"Then Vanellope came over and tried to help me make you your favorite pie." Tamora continued. "She was helping me out with making the dough when the mess that you see here took place. I just wanted to make you something special for our one year anniversary, but I couldn't even do that. I'm not good at this homemaking routine and can't be the wife that you deserve. I don't know what you ever saw in me when you chose to marry me."

Seeing the look of disappointment in his wife's eyes, a small smile formed on the handyman's face as he approached Tamora and gently took her right hand into his left, the Sergeant bending down to her husband's level. He lovingly gazed into her vision and hooked his right finger under her chin, bringing her vision with his.

"When I chose you, there was not a question in my mind about why I chose you." Felix began with a smile. "I saw one amazing woman, someone that really complimented me and made me feel whole. I never felt like this about anyone before and this is one amazing feeling that only you give me. Even more, you gave me the honey glows something awful."

The corner of the woman's lips curved into a tiny smile at that statement.

"But the point is, I love you regardless of what you are and aren't good at." Felix continued. "Just hearing how much you tried to put together one amazing meal with Vanellope shows me just how happy you want me to be, something I strive to make you feel every day. All I ever ask is that you try and with how much you do for me already, I don't even have to ask for that. You are an amazing wife and best friend, never forget that."

Vanellope climbed down from the chair and glitched over to Ralph's side as she continued to wipe the wet flour from her neck and hair. The two shared a glance and turned back to the loving couple.

"Why don't we clean up this mess and head over to Tappers for dinner, on me, since you've had such a hard day?" Felix offered. "After that, we'll head to the shooting range in your game."

"No, I have a better idea." Tamora spoke up. "Why don't we clean up this mess and make your favorite pie together."

The handyman's smile widened as he nodded in agreement. He then gave his wife a loving peck on the lips, sealing their agreement.

"I'd like that." Felix agreed.

"Hey, don't forget about your present!" Vanellope spoke up.

"Right." Tamora voiced as she got to her feet and walked over to the counter, grabbing Vanellope's gift off of the counter top. Felix joined her as she tore the wrapping paper off and opened the box. Gazing into the box, the Sergeant's eyes widened as tears began to prick in the corners of them. Peering into the box himself, Felix's smile widened.

"Oh my land Vanellope." Felix voiced. "This is absolutely amazing!"

"Taffyta helped me pick it out for you guys." Vanellope replied as she grabbed her ponytail and wiped some of the now dried flour from her hair. "I hope you guys like it."

Reaching into the box, Felix carefully pulled out the round golden medal that was engraved "Happy One Year Anniversary". He and Tamora gazed upon it proudly as they turned to Vanellope and Ralph.

"We love it Vanellope." Tamora expressed with happiness. "Thank you so much."

"You make a mess and then you make someone smile." Ralph cracked as he lightly nudged the royal. "You're two for two kid."

"Hey, I do alright." Vanellope replied as he nudged the wrecker back.

"Here, let's go get you cleaned up back at the castle and leave these two alone." Ralph offered as he grabbed the royal's tiny left hand in his right. "If anyone asks, we'll just say you fell into one of those giant oreo cookies and you ate your way out of it."

"Then I would be totally covered, not partially." Vanellope laughed as she and Ralph made their way to the door. "And this is flour, not cream filling."

"Who said it had to be true? You have devil dogs there right?" Ralph laughed as he and the royal exited the apartment, Ralph closing the door behind them.

"Happy One year anniversary Felix." Tamora happily expressed as she bent down once more to her husband's level, the golden medal in his hands sitting between them.

"A year I will never forget." Felix replied as he and Tamora shared another loving kiss, this one lasting longer than the previous.

* * *

_**I would like to give a huge thanks to my friend Mon-ra for helping me out with this! I have been struggling with this for months, trying to perfect Tamora and Felix's relationship after their wedding, but he helped me clear months of fog in just a matter of minutes! Huge credit goes to you buddy! :) Now I can finally get around to the remaining requests! **_

_**UPDATE: Wreck It Ralph 2 will premiere in Theatres March 9th 2018! :) Check my DeviantArt for more info under Alisi-Christine! **__**I**__**f nothing else,**_

_**Review Please!**_


	9. New Home

Chapter 9: New Home

'_Have you ever wondered what other places exist in the world? Have you ever looked at a map and dreamed of being in that state or city outside of your own? What about an island or countryside farm? After being held prisoner in her own game for 15 years, Vanellope decides that she needs a change in scenery and call another game home."_

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**Chapter Inspiration: Goodbye Friend by David Guetta **

The game was safe from the imminent threat that was the Turbo virus all thanks to Wreck It Ralph. Once Vanellope Von Schweetz crossed the finished line, Vanellope, the game's citizens, and the racers regained their memories of who was the true ruler of the sugar themed game. She stood before them, in her full attire, as the racers' mouths hung open with extreme shock and deja vu'. Gasps, red blushing cheeks, and bulging eyes were seen among the crowd as they eyed their true ruler. The feeling of extreme guilt hit them at once as the memories of them bullying who they thought were the game's mistake. Taffyta apologized for said mistake, remembering who was once in charge. However, even she knew what happened in the past remains in history forever.

With her status and throne regained, the princess decided on more of a democracy themed status, not completely denouncing her royal status, but not quite claiming it either. After that announcement, the first arcade chime was heard, indicating that the arcade was to open in five minutes and all non-sugar themed racers had to return to their games. Having made a new friend in the stranger that saved her game, Vanellope was sad to see Ralph go.

"Wreck It, Fix It, the arcade's about to open!" Calhoun announced as she turned and began making her way towards her jet with Felix in tow. "Let's move em' out!"

Turning from the Sargent, Vanellope turned her attention to her new friend as Ralph hunched down in front of the pint sized princess-president to voice his own sentimental goodbyes to her. Seeing the opportunity to thank him for saving her game, she leapt onto his right shoulder and did her best to latch her arms around his neck in a loving hug.

"You know, you could stay here." Vanellope offered as she lightly brushed her tiny fingers around the fabric of Ralph's polo shirt. "You can have your own wing in the castle where no one would complain about your scent or treat you bad ever again. You could be happy."

The royal then leaned off of her new friend's shoulder and caught with his dewy brown eyes to await the answer to her offer.

"I'm already happy." Ralph gently voiced to the young girl."I got the coolest friend in the world and besides, I got a job to do. It may not be as fancy as being president, but it's my duty. And it's a BIG duty!"

Remembering an earlier she made joke shortly after they met, Vanellope silently laughed, beaming the wrecker before her a kind smile.

"Ralph, you coming brother?" Felix called from Calhoun's aircraft, the sargeant setting the plane's coordinates for Hero's Duty. Hearing his brother calling out to him caught the wrecker's attention, which he sooned turned back to the girl in front of him.

"See you later president fart feathers." Ralph sentimentally spoke to the girl as he gently set her down in front of him.

"Au revoir, admiral underpants." Vanellope called after Ralph as he turned and began making his way towards the idling aircraft. The racers watched on behind the girl as the two continued to exchange their form of sentiments.

"And farewell barrenness boogerface." Ralph playfully called back in their two way game of insults.

"See ya later major body odor." Vanellope playfully shot back.

Just as the wrecker wanted to sling another insult back at his new best friend, Felix called out to his brother with exasperation, reminding him that he and Calhoun have been waiting long enough.

"Alright, to be continued." Ralph called back as he continued making his way towards the aircraft.

The wrecker finally reached the craft and as he boarded, the racers ran up to Vanellope, Taffyta being the first to approach the girl with a friendly smile and thumbs up. Candlehead grabbed Vanellope's left hand and began pulling her towards the race tracks. Positioning himself comfortably into the aircraft, despite his height and girth, Ralph took one last glance out towards his new friend and watched as the other racers surrounded her while ushering her towards the tracks.

Curious if the aircraft had taken off, Vanellope looked back and noticed that the craft was starting to lift off the ground, but had not taken off towards the entrance of her game just yet. She noticed Ralph was waving to her and with her free hand, she waved back. Turning back around in front of her, the princess-president suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, gestured to her fellow racers in a disgruntled manner, and turned back fully towards the aircraft. Making her way through the crowd of racers, Vanellope began flailing her arms to signal for Calhoun to halt the take off.

Felix, who was seated by the window with the wrecker, noticed the girl flailing her arms and shouting to the aircraft. Startled by the girl's sudden actions, the handyman turned to Calhoun who had her hands firm on the craft's steering handle.

"Don't take off just yet." Felix voiced urgently to the Sargent. "I think Vanellope is trying to tell us something."

"She's trying to tell us something?" Calhoun voiced with slight irritation as she turned to her window in the cockpit to see that Vanellope had her hands cupped around her mouth and frantically waved her hands in hopes of getting their attention.

"Lower the ship!" Ralph urgently requested. "Don't you see the kid is trying to tell us something?"

As the royal continued flagging the ship down, Taffyta and the other racers ran behind the girl with confusion written all over their faces about her sudden change in decisions.

With much urging from her passengers and suddenly forgetting about the warning chime of the arcade's impending opening in exactly one minute, Calhoun lowered the craft back down to the cheesecake layered ground. Seeing that she got her message across, an elated smile crossed the girl's face as she excitedly ran towards the craft. Undoing what seat belt he was able to strap around himself, Ralph craned open the door and jumped from the aircraft, nearly pushing the plane into the soft ground due to his massive girth! To keep from being flipped out of the window, Felix gripped firmly onto the back of his seat as Calhoun completely landed the craft.

"Ralph!" Vanellope shouted as she ran and leapt onto the wrecker's shoulder, latching her arms around his neck to the best of her ability. Wrapping his massive arms around the tiny royal, a look of confusion crossed the wrecker's face.

"Kid." Ralph voiced as Vanellope lifted off of his shoulder and caught with the wrecker's vision. "I thought you were staying to run this game. You got your throne back from Turbo. What's going on?"

"Ralph, I want to leave with you." Vanellope replied, which made the wrecker's eyes widen at her answer. "I want to know what's outside of this game and what the arcade is like. I want to see other game characters and know what they're like. Please Ralph, I want to leave with you, Felix and Calhoun."

"Vanellope, what's going on?" Taffyta questioned urgently as she and the other racers approached Ralph and Vanellope with caution. After being scared off by the wrecker once they destroyed the royal's hand built kart, the racers were still leery of the big guy.

Climbing off of Ralph, Vanellope placed her hands into the pockets of her hoodie and turned towards her fellow racers, the look in her eyes doing the speaking for her, if said language could be understood.

"I'm leaving the game." Vanellope expressed in a flat tone as gasps erupted throughout the crowd of racers from her answer. "I've been held prisoner here for the past fifteen years and haven't seen the arcade because I was trapped by my code. Now that my code has been reset, I'm leaving with Ralph and Felix to know what else is out there."

"But you can't just leave like this!" Taffyta argued as she took a shaky foot towards the two. "We apologized for how we treated you. We were under King Candy's influence and now that we remember who the true ruler is, we need you to run this game."

"What are we going to do without you?" Gloyd spoke up, he too taking a step forward.

"The same thing you've always done, race." Vanellope simply replied. "Besides, you guys are on the roster everyday. Being the ruler, I am technically not a playable character until someone unlocks my code to make me playable. So let's just say that I am on a small vacation for now and since everything in this game runs through my code, I'll be notified _if_ that takes place."

"So that's it?" Wynchal questioned as he too stepped forward.

"That's it." Vanellope simply expressed as she turned heel and began making her way towards the aircraft that was idling. Suddenly stopping in her tracks, Vanellope turned back around to the crowd. "And Taffyta?"

"Yes Vanellope?" Taffyta answered, the sound of urgency laced her tone.

"Make sure to keep everyone in line will ya?" Vanellope requested. "I'm officially putting you in charge."

"I will do my best." Taffyta replied with a small smile that was bordering on a frown.

The royal turned back around and continued her nonchalant trek towards the craft. The chime for the arcade's opening sounded, indicating that the business was now open to the public. Reaching the craft, the royal was helped in by Felix and helped with getting strapped in. Ralph climbed back into the craft himself, doing everything he could not to crush the small girl that was seated between himself and the handyman as he situated himself back in.

"Alright, where to sugar snap?" Tamora questioned to the royal as she tapped a few buttons on the craft's dashboard.

"Fix it Felix Jr please." Vanellope requested in the manner in which one would make a request to a Butler.

"Alright." Tamoara nodded as she prepared the craft for take off once more. "Next stop, Fix It Felix Jr."

"Are you sure about this Vanellope?" Felix questioned to the girl with worry. "Things can get pretty dangerous there with Ralph destroying the building and all. You're outside of your game which makes regeneration impossible."

"A few flying bricks won't hurt this gal." Vanellope replied as the craft lifted into the air. "Besides, it's about time I got a little dose of what arcade life is truly like. Plus I've always wanted to visit Fix it Felix Jr."

"Well it'll be good to have you hanging around kid." Ralph chimed in as the craft took off towards the entrance of Sugar Rush. "I just have one request for ya."

"And what's that?" Vanellope questioned, watching as the scene around them changed from her game to the main set of wires of her game.

"No bedtime stories as I'm no good with em'." Ralph requested with a laugh as the craft entered the portal area that connected Game Central Station to Sugar Rush's wires. "Are you ok with watching television until you fall asleep? That's about as good as I can do for ya bedtime story wise."

"Your game, your rules major body odor." Vanellope laughed as the craft finally entered into Game Central Station.

Spotting the marquee for Fix It Felix Jr's outlet, Calhoun lowered the craft and opened the doors for her passengers.

"Alright, you guys have a great game day." Calhoun greeted them off. "See you all at seventeen hundred hours at Tappers."

"We'll be there." Felix replied as he pecked his new love on the right cheek before climbing out of the craft. Once he was out, he helped Vanellope out with Ralph climbing out right behind her. With all of her passengers out of the craft, Calhoun shut the doors and made her way to her game.

"So what else do you do in the game besides wreck buildings?" Vanellope questioned to Ralph as the three entered the portal that sat between the station and the game's wires.

"That's about it." Ralph answered. "After Felix repairs the building, I get tossed off by the Nice Landers into a pile of mud."

"That's it?" The royal questioned once more with a giggle.

"Yea and that happens for about six levels." Ralph elaborated. "But on the sixth level, Felix has to avoid birds while also avoiding the bricks that fall from my wrecking."

"Don't remind me." Felix voiced with a shudder at the thought of one of the game's mallards targeting him while he was fixing the building. "And no offense brother, but escaping your wrecking is work enough. Those birds make my job too complicated!"

"Hey, I didn't make me the bad guy in this game." Ralph retorted with a toothy smile to the handyman. "If I had a choice, I would program me to be just another resident of the game."

"I think I'm going to love it here." Vanellope voiced with praise as the three boarded the two kart train that awaited outside of the game's main wires.

The train then took them inside the wires and to the platform that sat right across from the Nice Land building. Climbing out, the three made their way to the building while continuing their idle chatter, but was immediately stopped in front of the building by Gene, the building manager, who rushed out to greet them.

"Where have you two been?! The arcade opened two minutes ago!" Gene panicked as he looked between Ralph and Felix. "Do you have any idea what could have happened while you two were out or do I need to remind you two of what happened when _Ralph_ decided to go turbo?"

"Gene, when are you going to let that go already?" Ralph sighed as he ran his right hand over his face in exasperation. "I came back and we're still plugged in."

"After Felix risked his life to go and find you!" Gene continued his tirade.

"Uh hi." Vanellope's small voice spoke to the enraged manager. His eyes suddenly fell on her, them widening at her presence.

"And what is she doing here?!" Gene fussed while gesturing to the small royal. "It's bad enough that we have Ralph here! We can't take in any stray kids from other games!"

"Hey, I'm not a stray!" Vanellope spoke up, the look of discontent present on the girl's face. "The name is Vanellope Von Schweetz and I'm from Sugar Rush! President Von Schweetz is what I actually prefer!"

"She came to visit our game for a little while Gene." Felix calmly voiced to the angered manager. "She just needed some time away from her own game, but won't be staying here that long. Remember our motto for welcoming visitors? We greet each one like we would a fellow neighbor in Nice Land so Ralph and I are doing just that with little Vanellope here."

"That's funny, I never heard that motto before." Ralph muttered to himself.

Hearing Felix's reasoning behind Vanellope's presence and remembering the very motto _he_ came up with for welcoming strangers to their game, the manager's stern stare lightened up as he released a small sigh.

"You're absolutely right Felix." Gene finally agreed as he nodded. "Where are my manners? Welcome to Nice Land Vanellope. My name is Gene and I'm the building manager for the Nice Land Apartments here in Fix it Felix Jr. We hope you enjoy your stay and if you need anything at all, please don't hesitate to let me know."

A small smile formed on the girl's face as she nodded back to Gene.

"Will do." Vanellope replied.

"Exactly where will she be staying?" Gene suddenly questioned as he looked between Ralph and Felix, but his vision mostly fell on Felix.

"Don't worry about it Gene." Ralph spoke up. "Felix and I will figure it out."

"Well you better hurry before we get our first quarter alert for the day." Gene retorted with a sense of urgency. "She can't be seen on screen with the rest of us."

"Have I ever let you down Gene?" Felix politely questioned to the manager. "Vanellope will be staying in my apartment during game day today and after closing time, Ralph and I will figure something out for her. Right Ralph?"

"Even if I have to rearrange a few bricks of _this_ building, we'll make sure Vanellope is comfortable here." Ralph promised as he looked to the small girl to his left. Vanellope caught with his vision and smiled to him.

"Alright. Whatever you two have planned, you have to do it now before our first quarter alert." Gene reminded them as he stepped aside to let them by. "I will _not_ be held responsible for our game getting unplugged."

As the three continued to the front doors of the apartment, Vanellope stopped in her tracks and began scanning the area. From the consistent night sky, to the beautifully manicured layout of the Nice Land Property, to Ralph's pile of bricks and stump that sat at a distance from the building, to even the citizens that scurried about. To her, this was a risk worth taking, a reason to game jump. After being held prisoner in her own game for fiften years by the very code that she was created from, this was heaven. If there was any place in the arcade that she would love to call her new home, it was Fix it Felix Jr!

The wrecker and the handyman reached the front doors of the apartment, but before entering the building himself, Ralph noticed that Vanellope wasn't between them like she was when they first arrived. Turning around, he noticed that the girl was sight seeing as she stared around the area of the game. Smiling, Ralph placed his hands on his hips.

"Hey kid, you coming?" Ralph questioned, catching the royal's attention.

"Yea, I am." Vanellope answered as she took one last look around and ran up to the doors, to Ralph.

"Hey, do you want to help me play a trick on Felix?" Ralph questioned with a mischievous grin forming on his face. "I sometimes do this just to get him ready for level six. He says it annoys him, but deep down, he appreciates it."

"Just lead the way." Vanellope grinned as she and Ralph entered the building while plotting Ralph's incoming prank on Felix.

* * *

_**I apologize that this one-shot is late. This month has been SOME kind of interesting with switching jobs, switching Ph.D programs, etc. You name it, I dealt with it! But just know I did my hardest to get this out sooner and chapter 6 to Secrets Of The Code is in the works. I will try to post that chapter before the month is out, but if not then, then the first week of September for sure! **_

_**If nothing else,**_

_**Review Please! Hopefully you enjoyed your one-shot Antha! :) **_


	10. Upgrade Mix-Up I

Chapter 10: Upgrade Mix-Up I!

'As the old saying goes, accidents happen. How would you react if an accident suddenly changed your entire life? Would you be scared? Intrigued? We all have thought of 'What ifs', wondering if the outcome would be one we would want. Although she never imagined a what if, Vanellope is going to have to live through one heck of a what if after her game gets an upgrade!'

* * *

"Is this up high enough?" Gloyd questioned as he attempted to reposition the banner over the ballroom's doorway. "Because I can't stretch my arms up any further than they already are."

"Move it more to the right." Vanellope instructed with a gesture as she noticed the boy trying to correct the drooping banner in the corner of the doorway's arch.

Stretching his arms as high as they will go, Gloyd attempted to reposition the banner so that it was hanging correctly over the doorway. Latching the ring over the hook with a bit of a strain, the banner was finally in place, it reading 'Congrats Sugar Rush Racers!'

Climbing down the ladder, Gloyd walked up to Vanellope's left side to get a good look at the banner, just as she was doing.

"You did good." Vanellope praised her boyfriend as he leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I love the banner you picked out for this year. It's much bigger than our usual, but gives the room a certain racing spirit!"

"I couldn't agree more." Gloyd replied with a nod as Vanellope turned her attention to him. "I wanted the banner to be the biggest I could find since this party commemorates the 100th successful race. I guess that's one perk to dating the ruler, you get to attend some of the most sickest parties at the most awesome place in town!"

"I wouldn't say that is the only perk, but it's a start." Vanellope slyly stated as she turned completely to the pumpkin themed racer while inching closer to him. "There are many more perks you know."

"Oh really?" Gloyd retorted, knowing exactly where the raven haired royal was taking that conversation. "I'm listening."

Inching even closer to the boy, Vanellope began leaning into him when Candlehead, Rancis, and Taffyta came marching into the room with Rancis pushing a silver cart filled to the rim with decorations.

"Ok break it up you two." Taffyta playfully spat as the three neared the two. "You can do that after we finish putting up the rest of the decorations and during the first spotlight dance. Of course, after Rancis and I get our first dance in."

A deep blush appeared on the boy's face from his girlfriend's comment. He always enjoyed when she put them in the spotlight first.

"We may not even get _that_ time since you are practically glued to Vanellope's hip." Gloyd mumbled under his breath.

"Where do you want these paper mache race cars to go Vanellope?" Taffyta questioned as she gestured to the cart Rancis was standing behind.

Looking to the cart briefly, Vanellope turned her attention to the refreshment tables that were lined along the side, back, and front walls of the giant ballroom. Turning back to the cart, Vanellope mentally took a count of the mache race cars, mentally setting each table with two to three each. There were ten race cars, each fashioned after the roster's racer's cars and six decorated refreshment tables.

"Place four on each table between the refreshments and if you can, place two on both sides of the door way." Vanellope instructed.

"Will do boss." Taffyta agreed as she gestured to Rancis where they were going to start placing the first of the decorations.

"Ok, what kind of cake would you like baked for tomorrow?" Candlehead questioned with a smile as she positioned her notepad and pen so she could take down Vanellope's requests. "I can do chocolate cake with white frosting, vanilla cake with orange frosting, a mixture of both, and I can add my special touch décor to make the cake stand out. Or I can bake the orange frosting inside the cake while putting blue butter creme as the main frosting on top with the decorations I have in mind."

Gloyd turned to Vanellope, who in turn began thinking of what kind of cake would do for their celebration. Blue Butter crème has always been her favorite frosting on top of yellow cake, but she also enjoys an occasional vanilla cake topped with orange frosting as well. Vanellope then turned back to Candlehead with her answer.

"You know what, I'm going to let you pick the cake flavor, frosting, and designs." Vanellope permitted.

"And you won't be disappointed." Candlehead happily stated as she placed her notepad and pen back in her jacket pocket. "I'll have it here by 2pm tomorrow afternoon."

"Ok cake down, decorations down." Gloyd loudly checked off. "Anything we're forgetting?"

"The guest list, but it is as usual so there is no point in making that out." Vanellope voiced as she turned to Gloyd. "Everyone, even the villagers, are invited."

"So that leaves us some time while everyone else handles the decorations and the food." Gloyd slyly voiced as he slid his right arm around Vanellope's lower back to her waist. "Do you want to maybe get out of here and go grab a bite in the village? I discovered a small quaint place near my house that I'm sure you'll enjoy."

"Sure, I gu-" Vanellope began, but her thought was cut off by Taffyta's voice cutting in.

"Vanellope, I need you for a second." Taffyta requested as she grabbed the royal's right arm, a deep sigh erupting from Gloyd. "We need to go over the refreshments since Candlehead is handling the cake. We need to think about the main dish and what will go along with it. Rancis doesn't think chips are a good idea, but I say they are. They are the perfect party food!"

"Can we go over that later Taff?" Vanellope requested kindly to her anxious co-hort. "Gloyd and I are going to grab something to eat in town. Candlehead is handling the cake and I trust that you will chose great ideas for the food. I'll be back to check in on everything before bed tonight. I trust you Taffyta."

"Can you also trust her to leave us alone for once?" Gloyd mumbled which earned him a backhanded tap to the abdomen from Vanellope.

"Alright." Taffyta surrendered. "I know just the things to get. Rancis and I are on it!"

Nodding to her co-hort, Vanellope and Gloyd began towards the entrance/exit of the grand ballroom hand in hand.

"So tell me a little about this place." Vanellope inquired as they exited the grand ballroom with the sound of Taffyta's voice becoming more distant the further her and Gloyd walked into the hall.

"Well it's a family owned restaurant name Comforts Cuisine that serves everything you can think of." Gloyd began. "Hamburgers, hotdogs, pizza, ice cream floats, and I even made sure they served your favorite drink Red Gush and food double melted cheeseburgers. It's surprising that a place like that is in a game like this."

"You mean, the cheese is melted into the bun like I love it?" Vanellope excitedly questioned.

"Both cheese slices." Gloyd confirmed as he squeezed her hand a little. "And for a little extra, I'll make sure a third slice is thrown on just for you."

"Ok, let me grab my sweater and we'll hop in my kart setting a course to Comforts Cuisine." Vanellope established as the two approached the staircase leading to the royal's room. "I can't wait!"

"No, go get your sweater and we'll take the Kernal." Gloyd expressed. "My treat, therefore, I will drive my lady around."

Planting a kiss to her left cheek, Vanellope cheeked and began up the staircase to her room.

**Litwak's Arcade**

"And that ends my night." Litwak stated as he closed his calculation binder that keeps track of every game's earnings at the end of every night. "I am ready to head out once my technician gets here."

Opening the bottom left desk drawer, the older man placed the binder inside and quickly shut it. Pressing a silver button at the top of that side of the desk to lock the drawers, the arcade owner slid his chair back and got to his feet. Grabbing his jacket, the older man was in the process of putting it on when a knock at the office door stopped him in his tracks. Looking up, Mr. Litwak noticed that it was his young arcade technician that was standing in the doorway.

"Evening Lenny." Mr. Litwak politely greeted. "I thought you'd never show up."

"Sorry I'm late sir." The tech, Lenny, apologized as he stepped into the man's office. "Got held up at another arcade. You would not believe the amount of work I had to do. Uncrossing wires, two games broke down. You name it, I fixed it."

"You're not taking another job are ya?" Mr. Litwak joked as he placed his arms in the sleeves of his jacket. "I may have to start paying you a little more just to keep you."

"You will always have my full services sir." Lenny laughed as Mr. Litwak came around the desk and exited his office, shutting the door behind him. "So which games do I have tonight?"

"Oh, so glad you asked." Mr. Litwak stated as he stepped onto the arcade floor where his numerous game cabinets sat. "Sugar Rush, my biggest money maker, Fix it Felix Jr, Whack A Mole, and Tron need an upgrade. Sugar Rush and Tron are getting graphic upgrades while Fix it Felix is getting a bonus level upgrade. Whack a Mole has been down for a while so I want that game back up and running."

"Sugar Rush, Tron, Fix It Felix, and Whack a Mole." Lenny repeated back. "Got it."

"When you're done with the work order, just slip it under my door and I'll get it in the morning." Mr. Litwak stated with a smile as he turned to leave. "I'm trusting you with my games Lenny."

"They're in good hands sir." Lenny nodded. "See you in the morning."

"I almost forgot to ask." Mr. Litwak voiced as he turned back to his technician. "How's your girlfriend Katy doing?"

"Oh you mean Catherine." Lenny replied with a smile. "She's doing fine. She's my fiance now. I proposed last week at the lake you suggested."

"Oh that's great to hear." Mr. Litwak beamed. "Congrats to the both of you and tell her I said hello. You have a good night and don't work too hard."

"Same to you sir." Lenny replied with a nod.

With a wave, the older man finally turned and made his way to the exit of the building. Lenny, grabbing a screwdriver from his utility belt, made his way over the most famous game in the arcade to begin working on it.

**Candy Kingdom (After The Date)**

"I wish I could have taken one of those cheeseburgers home." Vanellope gushed as she took another sip of her Red Gush that was a free refill. "I can still taste the cheese as I bit into the hamburger."

"Too bad they don't do carry outs huh?" Gloyd replied as the Kernal made its way towards the castle via the castle's path. "Just tell Sour Bill how the hamburger was made and he'll make one for you. Make sure to save one for me though."

"Sour Bill actually gives the food orders to my chef." Vanellope giggled as the two drove up to the castle's doors. "Then the chef makes the food."

"Tell _him_ to save me one then!" Gloyd laughed, which made the royal laugh and nearly choke on her drink. "Like you, I can still taste that juicy burger in my mouth. That is one of the best places in town and glad I could take you there for a private dinner without interference from Taffyta for _once_. I've been looking forward to that all week."

Parking the Kernal at the castle's doors, Gloyd hopped out of the kart and then helped Vanellope out, holding her right hand to steady her while her left hand held her drink. Tightening his grip on her right hand just a bit, Vanellope's vision caught with his, knowing just how the boy wanted to end the night.

"I really don't want this night to end." Gloyd admitted as their visions remained glued to the other. "I had a lot of fun on our date and knowing Taffyta, we won't get another chance like this for a while, which is why I want to make this night last as long as possible."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Vanellope curiously questioned.

"So glad you asked." Gloyd's voice trailed off into a whisper as he began closing the gap between him and Vanellope. Quickly noticing just what the pumpkin themed racer was hinting at, a deep red blush appeared on the girl's cheeks as she readied herself for what he had in mind.

The gap between them was rapidly closing, Vanellope lowering her eyelids with excited anticipation of her mate's next move. Just inches from completely closing the gap between them, the two were interrupted by the castle doors creaking open and Sour Bill stepping outside with a clip board in his hands. Looking around her boyfriend, that's exactly what Vanellope noticed.

"My apologies for the interruption Vanellope, but a conflict with tomorrow's celebration menu requires your immediate attention." Sour Bill stated in his usual mono-tone voice. "Taffyta insists on it."

"I'll be right there." Vanellope stated with a sigh as Sour Bill quickly scuttled off into the castle, just leaving the two alone once more. "Sometimes I wish I didn't have to handle this castle or game's countless problems and just be a regular gamer. All I would have to worry about is racing every single day, but I can't let my dad down."

"That's what's so great about you." Gloyd began as his and Vanellope's vision caught once more. "You're a selfless ruler and not to mention, one hot final boss! That's just one of the things that made me fall for you."

Smiling, Vanellope leaned forward and gave Gloyd a peck on the lips. A deep red blush immediately appeared on the boy's face.

"Bet you didn't think you were getting that before this night was over." Vanellope slyly voiced. "But as much as I hate to do this, I have to get running. I had a really awesome time tonight. Maybe we can do this again next week."

Still caught off guard for what Vanellope did, Gloyd nodded as Vanellope waved to him and made her way inside the castle. Coming out of his state of shock, a wide smile made its way onto the boy's face.

"I can't thank user enough for that girl!" Gloyd loudly expressed as he hopped back into his kernal and sped away from the castle.

**That Next Morning**

With a mint colored quilt covering her entire form, the royal turned over on her right with her eyes squinting behind the lids, the sunlight pouring in the window to inform the raven haired girl that it was indeed time to wake up. Straightening out her body, the royal's eyes finally fluttered open as she stretched her arms, the first thing she noticed was a mint colored wall facing her. Noticing the strange sight, the girl's eyes widened as she immediately sat up, her raven silky hair falling down around her shoulders. Looking around the room, Vanellope could feel her heart beginning to race as she assessed the small room she was in. Looking straight ahead, she spotted a mint colored vanity and seat with a picture of the girl and her father leaning against the mirror. Both in the picture were wearing ordinary clothes.

Quickly throwing the covers back, Vanellope jumped out of the twin sized bed and ran to the vanity, swiftly grabbing the photo from the vanity's countertop. Eyeing the photo, a million thoughts began to race through the girl's mind.

"Daddy?" Vanellope's voice came out in a whisper.

Tightening her grip on the photo, Vanellope began to look around the small room once more, seeing more pictures of her and her father hung up all around the room.

"Where am I?" Vanellope questioned as she turned back to the photo. "And where did this come from? What's going on?"

Continuing to assess the situation she was suddenly thrown into, a knock at the door startled the girl out of her racing thoughts. Setting the picture down, the royal raced out of the room and into the small hallway. Making her way to the door while still befuddled at her surroundings, she reached it and opened it to find Gloyd leaning against the doorway.

"Gloyd?" Vanellope questioned as she looked him up and down.

"Hey Vanni, ready to go?" Gloyd calmly questioned as he pecked her on the right cheek.

"Go where?" Vanellope continued asking. "And why am I not in the castle? Did something happen after our date last night as to why I'm here?"

"What are you talking about V?" Gloyd lightly laughed. "You don't live in the castle, you've always lived here. Oh, I saw your dad on my way here. He said you would be up by now."

"My dad?" Vanellope nearly screamed. "My dad is dead thanks to Turbo, which left me as the core of the game. Ralph defeated Turbo, restored you guys memories to remember me as the ruler, and I live in the castle. Don't you remember?"

"Turbo?" Gloyd questioned in confusion as he leaned off the doorway. "You must have been dreaming that V because Jubilenna is the ruler of this game."

Hearing that made the girl's eyes widen and mouth gape open...

TBC...

* * *

_**This would have been out sooner, but once my ear infection cleared up, I mysteriously ended up with a left eye infection that is currently being treated with anti-biotic eye drops. But here it is and I hope you enjoyed part one of three of this series! **_

_**Review Please!**_


	11. Upgrade Mix-Up II

Chapter 11: Upgrade Mix-Up II

'After a night out with Gloyd, Vanellope woke up to what she could only describe has a backwards dream. The real question is, could it be truly called that?'

**Chapter Inspiration: Your Wildest Dreams by The Moody Blues**

"Did you say that Jubileena is the ruler?" Vanellope questioned as Gloyd walked into the girl's small village home. "When did that happen?"

"Are you sure you're ok V?" Gloyd questioned as the raven haired girl closed the door and caught back with her boyfriend's gaze. "Everybody here knows Jublineena has always been the ruler of Sugar Rush. Sometimes she complains about the amount of responsibility she has, but yet, she has always been."

A short bout of vertigo hit the girl, a similar conversation she recently had with the pumpkin themed racer coming back to her. Shaking her head, Vanellope quickly regained her footing.

"She complains about it?" Vanellope continued questioning as she took a step closer to the racer. "How often does she complain about it?"

"Often enough." Gloyd answered in a rush as a small annoyed smile crossed his face. "I mean, I don't keep count of when she does. Listen V, I didn't come here to talk about Jubi, I came here to ask my awesome girlfriend to the dance of the year at the Candy Kingdom. Are you feeling well enough to go?"

"I'm feeling fine." Vanellope replied with a nod. "I'm just really confused. You said earlier that you saw my dad?"

"Yea, I passed him up on the way here." Gloyd answered as he took a seat on the pearl white loveseat in the medium sized living room fit for a small family unit. "He was heading to the store."

Taking in what the boy just said, Vanellope shook her head and took a seat next to Gloyd. Closing her eyes, the raven haired girl opened them up with a small blink.

"How am I the only one who remembers what really happened in this game?" Vanellope asked as she turned her vision to the ground below and gripped her knees. "I know Turbo killed my father. I was once an outcast until everyone's memories were restored to remember me as the ruler. I have a best friend named Wreck It Ralph, and I run this game. How could you and everyone suddenly forget that?"

"Ok...the party is at four." Gloyd began as Vanellope turned her vision to his. "Why don't you get a bit more rest and I'll pick you up around three."

"Gloyd, why won't you believe me?!" Vanellope questioned, her temper quickly bubbling to the surface at the upside down reality she was suddenly thrown into. "I should know what happened like the rest of you!"

Leaning over, Gloyd planted a kiss on the girl's right cheek.

"I'll see you in a little bit V." Gloyd whispered with a smile as he got to his feet and headed for the door. Just as he reached the door, the birch wood door opened as Dacian walked through with several grocery bags in his arms, kindly greeting the racer.

"Gloyd my dear boy, how are you?" Dacian kindly greeted. "Sorry I didn't get a chance to speak to you on my way to the market. I was in a hurry."

"Just great sir." Gloyd replied in kind as he turned to Vanellope. "Just came to see how Vanellope was doing, but I will see you two later on. Later sir, later V."

Vanellope lightly waved after her boyfriend, but her attention immediately turned to the one figure she has only dreamt of seeing.

Dacian stepped further into the house as Gloyd closed the door behind him. Seeing her father standing before her with a huge smile on his face, Vanellope slowly rose to her feet as she gave the man a slow once over. From his slightly worn brown loafers to his olive green pants that look to be one size too big for him, his cream button down shirt and brown jacket that are slightly overshadowed by the grocery bags he was carrying, and finally his balding head with undeniable features of the man who Turbo took from her family lineage. Blinking long and hard so to engrave the image of her father into her brain permanently, Vanellope slowly approached the older man.

"Dad?" Vanellope whispered in a low tone. "Is..is that really you?"

"Vanellope dear, you look as if you've seen a ghost." Dacian laughed as he set the bags down on the chocolate brown carpet below him. "Listen dear, while I was at the store, I tried to fin-"

The older man's thought was cut off as Vanellope leapt into his arms and latched her arms tightly around his neck. The older man hugged the girl back, surprised by his daughter's sudden change in behavior. Loosening her grip on her father, Vanellope caught with her father's vision.

"Dad, I can't believe it's you!" Vanellope loudly expressed as a wide smile crossed her face, but quickly faded due to her continued confusion. "But Turbo, he killed you and exiled me!"

"Vanellope dear, you shouldn't fall asleep with the television on anymore." Dacian voiced with concern. "You are having nightmares again. Who exactly is this Turbo lad?"

"Dad, I didn't have a nightmare!" Vanellope strongly expressed as she released the older man and got back onto her feet. "Why am I the only one who knows what happened in this game?! Yesterday I was the ruler, you weren't here. Today I wake up and Jubileena is the ruler and you are here!"

"I knew it was a bad idea to let you watch that movie last night." Dacian voiced as he hastily picked up the grocery bags and began heading for the kitchen. "It still bothers you just like it did when you were little."

"What movie?!" Vanellope shouted as she followed her father into the kitchen with outstretched arms. "Dad, you weren't here yesterday and I was the ruler! I know what happened! Isn't all of this suddenly very strange to you?!"

Stepping into the room and taking a look around the small kitchen, Vanellope took a few moments to eye the room carefully. For a small home, the mint colored tile kitchen was beautiful and quaint in it's own way. The small kitchen island that sat in the middle of the room really tied the room together. While the electric stove and silver refrigerator couldn't hold a candle to the kitchen in the Castle, Vanellope appreciated what warmth that one area could bring to a visitor and the residents of said dwelling.

"Vanellope, could you help me put the groceries away please?" Dacian spoke in a dead pan tone, avoiding engaging his daughter in the current conversation. "I will be starting dinner shortly before the party."

With a sigh of defeat, Vanellope's hazel eyes followed after the man's request.

"Sure dad." Vanellope agreed with a small sigh as she approached the kitchen island and reached into a bag to begin unloading the groceries. "So what did you try to find again, but couldn't?"

"Oh I tried to find those vanilla drops you love so much, but they were all sold out dear." Dacian replied with a perked tone as he turned to face Vanellope, but her back was turned to the man while she eyed the box of cereal in her hands. "I promised that if I didn't find them this trip, I would look later on today."

"Are you going to the party at the castle?" Vanellope questioned once more, her tone matching her father's just moments ago.

"Sure, everyone is." Dacian replied as he placed a few cans of greens on the kitchen counter with those to be cooked very soon. "Aren't you going with your gentleman friend?"

"He's my boyfriend dad and yes." Vanellope sighed once more. "Even he doesn't believe me."

"Believe you about what dear?" Dacian asked as Vanellope turned her attention to him, but just as quickly turned back to the box of cereal in her hands. "Wait, is it about what we've been talking about because if it is-"

While staring at the box of cereal, the raven haired girl suddenly perked up as an idea hit her, one that she wished had hit her sooner. Turning to her father, she placed the box of cereal down on the kitchen island as a wide smile crossed her face.

"I know exactly who to talk to about this!" Vanellope excitedly voiced as she ran over to her father and hugged him. "I will meet you at the party at 4 daddy! See you later!"

Placing a small peck on her father's left cheek, the girl dashed off in a flash, parts of her code trailing behind her as she quickly exited the kitchen. Sighing, the older man shook his head and turned to the counter closest to him, to a picture of his late wife. Reaching for the frame, the man picked it up and sighed as he gazed at the picture of the woman that bore him the overactive child in his care.

"Veronica, sometimes I don't know what to do with her." Dacian voiced above a whisper. "Sometimes, she is too much to handle, but one thing is for sure, she is _certainly_ your daughter."

**Candy Kingdom (Conference Room)**

"So will that be both chips and dip or just chips?" Taffyta read off as she followed behind the exasperated Jubileena. "I prefer onion dip with the ripple chips, but it's whatever you want."

"I don't have a preference so pick up whatever you like." Jubileena expressed, her voice laced with exhaust as her royal cherry themed dress train dragged behind her. The cherry crown on the girl's head was drooping with Jubileena not bothering to fix it as she had done twenty or so times since putting it on. "Chips, dip, I don't care."

Reaching the conference table, Jubileena grabbed a chair and pulled it out, quickly plopping herself down in it. Leaning her head back, the girl closed her eyes and released a sigh.

"Ok so you don't mind chips and/or dip." Taffyta continued as she wrote that down on her notepad. "So what about the drinks? Any preferences?"

"Not really." Jubileena voiced, her eyes remaining closed. She suddenly felt her entire body relax, something she had been wanting since she woke up that morning. If only her feet weren't bothering her at that moment, then she could completely relax. "Just get whatever you like."

"Ok, no preferences." Taffyta rattled off. "Alright, looks like we have everything. Later on, I'm going to need you for a few things. Will you be free then?"

"Sure, why not?" The exasperated girl answered the strawberry themed racer.

"Alright, see you later Jubi!" Taffyta happily voiced as she turned and began walking out of the conference room with a pep in her step.

"Don't call me Jubi." Jubileena grumbled as she kept her eyes closed. "I hate that!"

With the peppy racer gone, Jubileena leaned her head up and opened her eyes, her rolling them slightly as she looked ahead of her.

"How did my parents do this?" Jubileena sighed as she turned her vision to the ground. "They ran the kingdom without any complaints and were able to do multiple things at once and with NO problem, but I'm exhausted while doing even the simplest of tasks around here! Being the ruler is exhausting!"

Lifting her gloved right hand to her head to scratch the itch that had become a nuisance under her crown, the cherry themed princess grabbed her crown instead, hastily snatching it off of her head.

"And this thing itches like there's no _tomorrow_!" Jubileena barked as she began taking care of the itch where her crown sat.

Sour Bill suddenly scuttled into the room carrying a stack of papers in his hands. He approached the irate princess as her eyes caught sight of him.

"Your highness, you must fill out this paperwork before tonight." Sour Bill expressed to the girl in his usual sour tone. "It is of dyer importance."

"Can it wait?" Jubileena asked with a sigh as she placed her right hand on her right cheek, having gotten rid of the annoying itch. "I have so much to do al-"

"Jubileena! Jubileena are you in here because I really need to talk to you!" Vanellope's voice called out, cutting off Jubileena's thought, as the girl entered the conference room, but stopped in her tracks at the sight of Jubileena. Staring at Vanellope, Jubileena's eyes widened as she got to her feet, giving the raven haired girl a once over, her look described as one of disbelief.

"Jubileena?" Vanellope gasped as she gave the girl a thorough once over once more, viewing the girl that was standing in her place!

"Vanellope?" Jubileena gasped as well as her hands flew to her mouth with her entire body glitching her reddish purple code in surprise.

"And you can glitch!" Vanellope stammered out as her eyes remained glued to the cherry themed princess.

**Lenny (His work Van)**

"Of course I'm looking forward to your cooking tonight." Lenny, Mr. Litwak's technician, stated to his fiance Catherine as he adjusted his cell phone on his shoulder. "You're like the best cook in the world. No, I can't cook as well as you can. Everything I cook looks like I made casian."

Continuing his conversation with a laugh from a joke Catherine made, Lenny picked up his work order notepad and set it in his lap, beginning to go over the work he did for Mr. Litwak.

"Yep, I'm leaving the last arcade right now." Lenny continued as he looked over the list of games that were upgraded by him. "Of course I'll be there in time to taste your special sauce. You make it very tasty and it's hard to resist."

Pulling up the page he was looking at, Lenny pulled it over the top of the pad so he could read the page behind it. Eyeing the upgrade schedule for Sugar Rush, Lenny's wide smile suddenly vanished as his wide eyes ran over the schedule.

"Catherine, let me call you back!" Lenny voiced with urgency.

"Is everything ok?" Catherine questioned, her voiced becoming laced with worry.

"Yes, everything is fine." Lenny tried to assure her. "I'll be in touch in a bit."

Removing his phone from his shoulder, Lenny hung it up as he grabbed the pad and brought it closer to his face. Going over the exact statistics of the upgrade to the game, Lenny shook his head as he eyed the information written up for Vanellope and Jubileena's characters.

"Why didn't I catch this sooner?!" Lenny questioned as he continued staring at the notes.

* * *

_**Happy New year everyone! Depending upon how the next installment of this series goes, there maybe a fourth part to this series! And if anyone is confused, Vanellope's late mother is programmed into her backstory whether she is a regular racer or the ruler. :) **_

_**Review Please!**_


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